I found I couldn't get into this book the way I had hoped. I felt like the writing was jarring and made it difficult for me to work out which character was which and what the plot was. Unfortunately a low score from me!

The Pretender is a clever, funny and poignant story about a forgotten “king”.

I’d heard the story of Lambert Simnel, and ever since, associated the spiced cake enjoyed at Easter with him. I know he was pitched as a rival to the throne, and that it never quite worked out. However, I’m hazy as to the rest of the story, and Harkin fills us in with this unique and original new take on his story.

This is a story of identity and trying to understand one’s place - John goes to Simnel to Edward Plantagenet and to Simnel. He’s plucked from his familiar home life on the farm as John, son of Will Collan and taken into a new world of education, royalty and then back to a life of servitude. He changes with his aliases, morphing from a sweet, naive farm worker to one who gets embroiled with politics and a thirst for revenge. Seeing his character change shows how his confused identity, and a life of people telling him who he is rather than him being able to discover who he is, takes its toll. As he becomes cold, we are able to sympathize, and its a poignant angle.

Although it’s told in third person, the writing presents an intimate insight into the world as Lambert sees it, so we can understand why his character changes and how he views the events around him. This adds to the idea of trauma and how it affects him personally.

The language in this book is cleverly chosen. Harkin combines a modern slant whilst maintaining some fantastic old lexicons, such as “hudder-mudder”, “laterwise,” and “maugre.” She blends this with some more modern phrases to create a novel that is unique in its language. The tone is wry, lyrical, and at times comic. It can take a while to fully appreciate the technique and felt like a slower start to the novel, but once I’d got to grips with it, I settled in to the story.

The book also has vivid characters, from the priests and tutors of Lambert to Henry VII, Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy and the love of his life, the conniving and enigmatic Joan, daughter to the Irish Earl of Kildare. Harkin brings to life some of the key players of the 15th century.

The ending felt a bit drawn out over the last few chapters of the book and felt a bit harder to get through than the main parts, but I felt that was influenced by Lambert’s story and the situation he was in by the end.

Harkin takes a blurry story from history and weaves a compelling, poignant, and highly original tale around its events.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

This book took a while to get me. I think I had super high expectations because it's been compared to Wolf Hall and Demon Copperhead, too books I absolutely loved, and when the writing wasn't instantly to that standard I was disappointed. But I ended up really liking this book. From the clever mix of anachronisms and archaisms to the sarcastic humour with which it confronts the absurdities of the royal courts and the class system I found this book to be pretty funny. While I enjoyed that the plot did not always go where you expected it to, such a close adherence to the history did sometimes make it feel a little meandering and pointless, and the character development was Dickensian, clever and comic for the side characters and a little underbaked for our protagonist. So overall I book a very much liked but one I couldn't love.
3.5

THE PLOT:
The Pretender is a sharply ambitious and brilliantly crafted story that weaves intrigue, deceit, revenge, and ambition against the backdrop of 1480s England.
John Collan, a twelve-year-old boy living in a remote village with his widowed father, is torn from his simple life and trained to impersonate Edward Plantagenet, rightful heir to the throne.
As he prepares for a war where he will either become king or die trying, John must rely solely on his own wit — and the unpredictable counsel of Joan, his host’s unconventional daughter — to navigate the treacherous waters ahead.
Inspired by the real-life figure of Lambert Simnel, The Pretender vividly captures the chaos of history, the fragility of identity, and the brutal cost of power.

MY REVIEW:
With great regret, I must admit that I did not finish this book — I DNFed it — and here’s why.

Let me start by saying I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction, but I picked this up for a readathon with Tandem Collective Global and was genuinely intrigued by the promise of political intrigue outlined in the synopsis.
However, the book didn’t live up to my expectations, and I had to stop reading around the halfway mark.

One of the main issues for me was the writing style. While I appreciated the use of uncommon vocabulary that suited the historical setting well, this strength was overshadowed by the pacing. The plot moved painfully slowly, and it felt like the story had to struggle just to reach any sort of turning point. Even when the first major plot twist occurred, it lacked the narrative tension and weight I was hoping for.

These factors prevented me from feeling any real attachment to the story. I pushed through as much as I could, but eventually decided to turn my attention elsewhere.

I do believe this book might be appreciated by readers who already enjoy this genre, but for someone like me — who doesn’t typically reach for historical fiction — it proved to be a challenging and unsatisfying read.

📜 Historical fiction
🕯Set during the Plantagenet/Tudor era
👑 A hidden heir
📜 Secrets and mystery
🐐 Amusing tone!

The Pretender has an intriguing plot and is set during a little-known period of history, which I'd known nothing about. We think of the Tudors as iconic monarchs - but at the time, people didn't think Henry VII's reign would last; it was unstable and there were lots of pretenders. Harkin really makes you feel immersed in this era.

It had an amusing tone and wry wit that I didn't expect in a historical fiction novel, and was very entertaining. Our young protagonist Jon quickly endeared himself to me. But it was Joan's intelligence, wit, boldness, and murderous intentions that rapidly made her a favourite with me! Our protagonist really didn't know what to do with her, which was rather entertaining.

I was sad to see the way our protagonist's character developed in the latter part of the book.

I'd recommend reading the ebook so that you can easily look up any archaic words from the time period. "Cupshotten" was my favourite!

An ambitious and inventive reimagining of the “Pretender” narrative, Jo Harkin’s The Pretender is as much about power and propaganda as it is about identity and survival. From backwater obscurity to the gilded shadows of European courts, John’s transformation into Edward Plantagenet is filled with charm, brutality, and moments of laugh-out-loud wit.

Though the pacing wavers in the first half, Harkin’s prose sparkles throughout—brimming with heart, satire, and humanity. The supporting characters, particularly the sharp-tongued Joan, elevate the drama and give the story its emotional pulse.

A compelling pick for readers who like their historical fiction literary, gutsy, and laced with cleverness.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me despite historical fiction being my favourite genre. I found the style of writing difficult especially as it was interspersed with poetic ramblings. All historical novels based on real characters contain a certain amount of the author's imagination but checking the facts afterwards I believe there was more fiction than fact.
Having been fairly negative about this book, I am sure that many will thoroughly enjoy it. Obviously a lot of research and work has gone into this book,

The Pretender is loosely based on the story of Lambert Simnel, who was a pretender to the throne of Henry VII.

The protagonist of the novel begins his life as John Collan, the son of a peasant farmer in Oxfordshire. He has an ordinary childhood in a loving home. He regrets the loss of his mother in childhood, but is cared for by his father and their housekeeper, Jennott. The biggest obstacle in his life is conflict with a local goat.

Life begins to change when his father surprisingly comes into money after a visit from a mysterious stranger. He decides to remarry and Jennott is usurped. Then John is sent away with the stranger.

He is told he is really Edward, the son of the late Duke of Clarence, and heir to the throne. He was hidden in the countryside with the Collans to keep him safe. He is to be educated in Oxford and to live under the alias of Lambert until he can assume his rightful place.

This is one of a number of adventures which befall John/Lambert/Edward. Along the way he moves around the homes of nobles and royals, from Burgundy to Ireland. He encounters love and loss as his allies desert him or are killed, before the unsuccessful attempt to replace Henry VII on the throne. The story of his supposed birth and concealment also change to fit the shifting agenda of those who control him, leaving him more confused.

He is initially naive and accepts what he is told at face value. (He is arguably too naive, for too long, given that he is a very bright child with a passion for literature. It is this, alongside his looks, which lead to him being chosen for his role). As time goes on, he becomes increasingly distant from his peasant upbringing, but however much he learns the manners and speech of the nobility, he still feels he doesn’t belong among them.

Public domain etching of Lambert Simnel
The Pretender has a wonderful freshness and immediacy. It maintains the difficult balance between feeling authentically of the period, without assigning contemporary values to the characters, but also making you feel that they live and breathe and feel as we do. It’s packed with cultural and literary references which won’t trip you up if you’re not familiar with the period, but add to the enjoyment if you do.

While The Pretender is a very different genre and story from Harkin’s first novel, Tell Me an Ending, it deals with similar themes of identity and how memory shapes our sense of self.

Tell Me an Ending uses speculative fiction to explore how people are changed when vital memories have been deliberately erased. In The Pretender, the protagonist has his memories, but the meaning he is able to attach to them is constantly shifting.

The loving family he grew up with is, he is told, not his at all. Each time he begins to form relationships in a new setting, he is abruptly ripped away and told that what was true is now false. He doesn’t know who is lying to him and who is telling the truth, he doesn’t even have a name which is truly his own.

There is much sadness in his story, and a sense that he is constantly searching for home – sublimated by his constant promise to himself to go and look for Jennott, the housekeeper who was the nearest thing he had to a mother.

There is also a lot of humour, both at the absurdity of his situation and in his perceptions of the political machinations going on around him. (And with the goat. He has some epic confrontations with the goat.)

The Pretender is atmospheric, bawdy and funny. It also asks profound questions about how we know who we are, and how the trappings of status define and deceive us. I felt moved by the protagonist’s resilience and found the ending quite poignant.

I read the first few chapters of this for the readathon and I have enjoyed what I have read so far. It is definitely on my list to read in full.

#BBNI2025

I really enjoyed reading the first few chapters in this as part of the readathon. My initial thoughts are that the story sounds very intriguing. It also isn't a time I've read much about so that definitely adds to the interest.

The Pretender
By Jo Harkin

What caught my eye when I chose this book was it's description of Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead. I didn't love DC but Wolf Hall remains one of my Top Ten reads of all time, so anything that can entrance me so completely is worth my time.

I fell instantly back into that space with The Pretender. Harkin's world building is fabulous. Like Mantel, her blend of historical details with contemporary wit expands the reader's imagination to visualise and become emotionality immersed in the late 1400s.

I love her use of language, studded with archaic words and phrases. It has the bawdiness of Monty Python, the quipiness of Blackadder, the political satire of Wolf Hall. It adds a voiciness that I like in my reading. However the repeated use of the same few words soon began to grate and at times I feel it if the story by noticing the mechanics of it.

The structure is simple, it could be represented by a map with arrows, but the journey is complex. As the protagonist makes his way through kingdoms and baronies and through various iterations of himself, the narrative is in present tense, and we are only privy to the world as he sees it. As he grapples with upward social mobility and sexual awakening, we experience the confusion alongside him.

This is a particularly complicated time in British and Irish history. Allegiances were a fickle thing and political agendas, personal motivation, legacy building and power dynamics shifted on sand. Loyalty was ephemeral. Nobody was immune from betrayal. Not even a king was sure of his power, the hunt for spies and traitors was an ongoing exercise. What this novel does well is to deny the reader any feeling of being certain who is friend and who is foe. It makes for an authentic atmosphere. I'm a reader who likes to keep track of the ins and outs, and I felt baffled at times, but surely that's the point.

I was very impressed by Harkin's research while I was reading the section where he stays with the Fitzgerald family in Kildare. Tiny details throughout the descriptions of the Irish scene delighted me. Mentions of place and people that may seem inconsequential, but are thrilling to anyone who recognises them. At times I thought "sure she's just showing off now".

Lovers of emmersive historical fiction are bound to love this. I don't know if it's a good place to start if you're not familiar with the War of the Roses, the Plantagenet period, Tudor or Anglo Irish history owing to the political complexities, but if you can meet it where it is, a time when a person had very little value other than a bargaining chip, when, regardless of being a peasant or a noble, a person might have been used as a pawn in the power plays of others, then it's an entertaining coming of age story with themes of identity, overcoming adversity, found family and personal growth. Just like Demon Copperhead.

Publication date: 24th April 2025
Thanks to #Netgalley and #bloomsburyuk for providing an eGalley for review purposes.

This book is wild in the best way. The Pretender follows John, a 12-year-old peasant boy who gets yanked from his quiet life and told he’s actually the lost heir to the English throne. Cue the identity crisis, courtly scheming, and constant fear of execution.

What makes it so good? John isn’t some flawless hero—he’s confused, scared, and just trying not to get played by the power-hungry nobles around him. Then there’s Joan, the sharp, rebellious daughter of his Irish hosts, who steals every scene she’s in. Their dynamic—part mentorship, part romance—gives the story heart amid all the backstabbing.

Harkin’s writing is sharp and immersive, making 15th-century England feel fresh and urgent. It’s funny, tense, and surprisingly emotional—I gasped, laughed, and definitely yelled at my book a few times. And knowing it’s loosely based on a real historical figure (Lambert Simnel) adds an extra layer of intrigue.

If you like historical fiction with wit, heart, and high-stakes drama, The Pretender is a must-read. 10/10—just be prepared to lose sleep over it.

During the War of the Roses, it was alleged that Edward, son of the late Duke of Clarence, was hidden away as a child, to be brought forward at the right moment to become the rightful King of England.

John who been brough up on a remote farm, is told that he is in fact Edward, and he gets taken away on an adventure, and given different names as he goes along. This covers the time period from Richard III to Henry VII and all of the plots afoot during that time.

The book is written in a very authentic feeling way, including words and phrases that would have been used at the time. The author shows a very bawdy side to this history, which was very amusing to read about.

At its heart, this book of historical fiction is a coming-of-age story, about a boy going through adolescence through the turmoil of not knowing where he belongs and who to trust.

I really enjoyed this book, and always love revisiting the Tudors through the eyes of side characters in history. I love that the author chose this character from a footnote that she found.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this ebook.

A sweeping historical premise with echoes of Mantel and O'Farrell—sounds intriguing. But unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.

Set in the late 1400s, The Pretender follows Lambert Simnel, a peasant boy groomed to be the Yorkist heir to the throne during a turbulent moment in English history. While I was intrigued by the real-life inspiration and appreciated the fresh lens on a lesser-known historical figure, I struggled to stay immersed—and ultimately put it down at 18%.

The issue? Language. I can get behind modernized dialogue in historical fiction when it's done with finesse, but here it felt jarring. Terms like “parabola” and “dendritic”—even if they technically existed—felt wildly out of place, especially in the mouth of an 8-year-old village boy. It broke the illusion of time and place for me.

The main character had potential, and I enjoyed his voice, but the overall story didn’t grip me, despite my usual love for the genre. If you’re drawn to Tudor-era tales and don’t mind a little linguistic looseness, this might still work for you. But for me, it just didn’t click.

No rating since it's a DNF, but I’ll be watching to see what Jo Harkin writes next—there’s definitely talent here.

An audacious reimagining of a footnote in Tudor history, The Pretender is that rare historical novel that manages to be both whip-smart and wildly entertaining, a gripping political drama infused with wit, charm, and unexpected heart.

Set in 1480s England—a kingdom teetering on the edge of dynastic upheaval—this novel takes the true story of Lambert Simnel and spins it into a richly imagined coming-of-age tale that’s as clever as it is compelling. At its center is John Collan, a 12-year-old boy whose quiet life in a remote village is upended when he's plucked from obscurity and molded into a royal impostor: Edward Plantagenet, rightful heir to the English throne.

What follows is a dazzlingly plotted journey through court intrigue, backroom deals, and moral ambiguity, as John is trained to be a puppet king in someone else’s power game. But this is no dry history lesson. Through the sharp eyes of its young protagonist—and the fiercely intelligent, often hilarious Joan, daughter of his host—The Pretender explores big themes: identity, truth, survival, and the strange ways power finds (and uses) us.

Harkin’s prose is agile and alive, capable of shifting from poignant insight to sly humor in a breath. The novel’s voice is what truly sets it apart—earthy and immediate, full of modern vitality yet grounded in the texture of the time. It’s Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead not just in scope, but in narrative innovation: historical fiction with soul, bite, and blistering relevance.

If you’re craving a fresh take on the Tudor era, one that doesn’t just dramatize the facts but reanimates them with heart and brilliance, The Pretender is a must-read. Bold, buoyant, and unforgettable.

📖✨ The Pretender by Jo Harkin ✨📖

A crown, a game of chess, and the turn of a tarot card; fate is a slippery thing, and power even more so.

Imagine being plucked from obscurity and shaped into a pawn in one of history’s most dangerous games. That’s the reality for John Collan, a boy forced to become Edward Plantagenet, rightful heir to the throne of England. As political schemers pull the strings, John must decide: will he rise to the challenge or be consumed by it?

Jo Harkin has crafted a novel that is as sharp as a dagger and as captivating as a court intrigue. Fans of Wolf Hall and Demon Copperhead will love the wit, heart, and sheer brilliance of this historical tale. It’s funny, clever, and utterly immersive; a rare novel that manages to be both wildly entertaining and deeply moving.

If you love history, power struggles, and unforgettable characters, this one’s a must-read! 📚👑

#BBNI2025

My initial thoughts about the first chapters:
I love history, so I'm quite sure I am going to like this.
I don't vibe a lot with the writing style, the narration is set in present and I don't usually like it.
But I enjoy how the events are presented and depth of the storytelling.
I have not studied a lot about this age, so hopefully I will learn something with The pretender!

I went into this one really excited—the concept of a boy being pulled into a royal conspiracy during the Wars of the Roses had so much promise. And to be fair, the first half of the book really worked for me. I was hooked by John’s story as this innocent, quiet boy caught in something much bigger than himself. Watching him be molded and used by powerful people was fascinating.

But somewhere around the halfway point, it lost its grip on me. The pacing slowed down, and the emotional pull started to fade. John changes a lot over the course of the book—he goes from being unsure and passive to someone who’s cold, calculating, and only looking out for himself. I get that it’s part of the point, but it left me feeling a bit detached from him.

His relationship with Joan also felt strange. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be romantic, maternal, manipulative… or all three? It added to the unsettling vibe, but it never quite landed for me.

That said, I loved the writing style and how the story made me think about identity, power, and who gets to shape history. I just wish the second half kept the same intensity as the beginning. A solid read, but not a new favourite.

🌷Thank you to Tandemcollectiveglobal and Bloomsbury_export for the gifted copy!

An unforgettable journey through 15th-century England. The story of young John Collan, who’s pulled from his quiet life and groomed to impersonate a royal heir, is full of tension, heart, and surprising humor. Harkin’s writing is sharp and vivid, drawing you into the chaos of a world where ambition and deception rule. I couldn’t help but root for John as he navigates treacherous waters with only his wits and the help of the fierce Joan. A truly captivating, emotional ride through history.

A historical fiction set around tudor time and tells the story of Lambert Simnel, who was raised in obscurity as a peasant boy to protect his safety, believed to be the heir to the throne occupied by Richard III, and briefly crowned, at the age of ten, as King Edward the Sixth, one of the last of the Plantagenets.

It's an excellent concept for a historical fiction as we know enough facts about the situation to lay out a storyline but there's enough ambiguous areas the author can take creative license and create a compelling story.

I fear overall it wasnt my style as it was so far out my comfort zone. It felt a little too long, and the humour a touch too modern. But it has excellent reviews and I feel people who regularly read historical fiction, or have an interest in that time period would really enjoy! Harkin also does an excellent job at helping you keeps everyone's names and titles straight as that can be difficult at times in historical fiction!