The Clerkenwell Tales by Peter Ackroyd

The Clerkenwell Tales

Peter Ackroyd

Here is medieval London, raw in tooth and claw: fascinating story woven round the characters in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. If you've ever wondered what kind of a world the Prioress lived in or what lurked behind the Pardoner's tale, then this is the book for you. Medieval life was often nasty, brutish and short but it wasn't short on murder, intrigue and conspiracy either. You may only want to visit it for a book's worth of time and be glad to escape to the horrors of the twentieth century.

Extract
Now Exmewe was planning his fate. If Hamo were successful in the firing of St Sepulchre he would be a wanted felon; if he were taken in the attempt, Emewe would cast blame upon the nun. If Hamo were to die, well what cannot be mended must be ended. Need knows no law. And so he invited the manciple to have conference with Hamo that evening, at dusk, by the bank of the Fleet.
Parallels
  • The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  • The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
  • An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
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Violence
Explicit sexual content