The Clerkenwell Tales
Ackroyd, Peter
Nan A. Talese / Doubleday 2004
ISBN 0-385-51121-3
213pp
Date finished: 2005-01-15
[Buy this book] (why?)
Ackroyd's latest novel demonstrates his infatuation with London history -- the infodumps are short and usually unobtrusive, but there are a lot of them -- and with forces moving below the surfaces of events. Near the end of Richard II's reign, a secret group of heretics, called the predestined men, are setting bombs and posting theses. But there are layers within layers, and what's going on is more complicated than that. Chapter titles are modelled on the Canterbury Tales ("The Man of Law's Tale", "The Prioress's Tale") and we see most of the action in each chapter from the title character's point of view so there's a kaleidoscopic effect as we shift from person to person, occasionally intersecting with character's we've seen before. It's not one of Ackroyd's great books, but it's entertaining enough.