Michael Rivers

Ruth begins her 30th birthday alone, as she often is, with nothing but her thoughts, memories, and her piano, an extension of her inner life. It’s apparent that this day is overshadowed by a spectre from her past which she increasingly cannot deny. Her older brother Adam — an equally solitary workaholic — arrives with a cake and a gift card for a routine birthday visit between meetings. But what starts as a perfunctory drop-in becomes a turning point in their lives, as Ruth lays her cards out on the table and sparks a confrontation about the defining event which broke their family and their attempts to come to terms with it.

The year is 1536. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake finds his life turned upside down when Thomas Cromwell sends him to investigate a suspicious death at the remote monastery of Scarnsea. Deception, deceit, and corruption are rife as it soon becomes clear that the murder is not the first. Shardlake is drawn into a web of lies that threatens not only his integrity but his life.