Publisher's Synopsis
"In impressively muscular prose strongly reminiscent of Hilary Mantel, R N Morris packs the entire life of Sir Walter Raleigh into one breath-taking volume. This stunning tale grips from the first line to the last, brims with dazzling images, vivid characters, electric dialogue and unforgettable action." Peter Tonkin, author of A Verse To Murder
"This spell-binding story of Elizabeth I's infamous favourite brings the adventurous, dangerous, and glittering world of late-Elizabethan England to life." Steven Veerapen, author of A Dangerous Trade
Adventurer, soldier, courtier, poet, prisoner - outsider.
Drawn by ambition to Elizabeth's court, Walter Raleigh soon becomes the queen's favourite. But his meteoric rise attracts the enmity of powerful rivals.
Sir Francis Walsingham, the queen's spy master, proves a dangerous enemy.
While the Earl of Oxford is an equally dangerous friend.
Even Elizabeth's favour is an uncertain gift. It can be withdrawn on a whim as easily as it is granted and earns him as much trouble as it does profit.
Seeking gold for his queen and glory for himself, Raleigh launches a series of ever more reckless adventures.
The ultimate prize he dreams of is the fabled city of Eldorado in the New World. He is possessed by the dream.
After Elizabeth's death, Raleigh fails to find favour with the new king and is imprisoned in the Tower.
To restore his reputation, he embarks on his most desperate venture yet.
By now an old and broken man, he risks everything to discover the city of his dreams.
Recommended for fans of Hilary Mantel, Joseph O'Connor and CJ Sansom.
R. N Morris is the author of eleven novels. His series of St. Petersburg novels revolving around the character of Porfiry Petrovich include A Gentle Axe and A Vengeful Longing, which was shortlisted for the 2008 CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger for Best Novel and was Highly Commended in the CWA Ellis Peters Prize for Best Historical Crime Novel in 2008. He also wrote the libretto to the opera When The Flame Dies, composed by Ed Hughes.
Praise for Roger Morris:
"An extraordinary excursion into the past by a master storyteller. I have never read a book quite like it, nor admired a book so much." Michael Gregorio
"Morris' recreation of the seamy side of 19th-century St Petersburg is vivid and convincing ... As to who did it, Morris keeps the reader guessing until the end." The Independent
"Morris has created an atmospheric St Petersburg, and a stylish set of intellectual problems, but what makes A Gentle Axe such an effective debut is its fascination with good and evil." Times Literary Supplement
"As fans of Morris's previous A Gentle Axe will know, this author not only has the nerve to lift his lead character from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment but also the skill to bring that distant Russia and its inhabitants to life, while drawing parallels with our own world." The Guardian
"The streets of St Petersburg are vividly portrayed as the author shows the imperial Russian capital on the brink of upheaval... If you like historical crime novels, you will enjoy this." Historical Novels Review
"Morris's descriptions of the horrors of insanitary slum dwellings in St Petersburg are extraordinarily vivid, but the most striking feature of the novel is the way in which Porfiry's sophisticated understanding of human nature compensates for the limited investigatory tools at his disposal." The Times
"... a book that satisfies on more than one level - as a story of investigation and also as a historical novel crammed with sharply individualised characters." Andrew Taylor in the Spectator
