By Jo Harkin
A peasant boy claims the Tudor throne
Subject
Themes
A peasant boy named John Collan lives on an English farm in the 1480s, raised by a gruff but loving father, surrounded by the rhythms of rural life and the company of a sharp-tongued dairymaid called Jennott. His world is intimate, bounded by village gossip, a troublesome goat, and ballads recited by firelight. When a mysterious nobleman arrives and claims that John is actually Edward, son of the executed Duke of Clarence and true Earl of Warwick, the boy is torn from everything he knows and thrust into a conspiracy to reclaim the English throne from the newly established Tudor dynasty.
A peasant boy named John Collan lives on an English farm in the 1480s, raised by a gruff but loving father, surrounded by the rhythms of rural life and the company of a sharp-tongued dairymaid called Jennott. His world is intimate, bounded by village gossip, a troublesome goat, and ballads recited…
Jo Harkin's debut novel arrives in 2025 as a work of historical fiction that engages deeply with questions of imposture, identity, and the construction of historical truth, themes that resonate with contemporary debates about authorship, authenticity, and who controls the narratives of the past. The…
Lambert Simnel inhabits five distinct identities across his life, each with its own name, social position, and set of expectations. As John Collan, he is a farm boy with a goat nemesis and a love of ballads. As Lambert, he is a confined student in Oxford discovering literature. As Edward, he is a…
Every character who wields power in this narrative is shown to be either corrupted by it or confined within it. Lambert's journey from powerless farm boy to crowned king to kitchen servant to spy-assassin traces the full spectrum of what power does to a person, and none of the positions it places…
Betrayal is not an aberration in this world but its governing principle. Every political relationship, every alliance, every act of loyalty contains within it the mechanism of its own reversal. The narrative constructs a universe in which trusting anyone is irrational, yet human beings cannot…
Lambert's journey from childhood to adulthood is inseparable from the violence that propels it. Each stage of his maturation is marked not by natural developmental milestones but by encounters with death, deception, and the erosion of innocence. The farm boy who devises elaborate plans to outwit a…
Books and literary texts saturate the narrative at every level, functioning simultaneously as sources of comfort, instruments of education, tools of manipulation, and mirrors that reflect the characters' psychological states. Lambert's relationship with literature evolves from innocent enjoyment to…
Lambert Simnel begins life as John Collan, a farm boy in rural England who devises elaborate military strategies to outwit a goat and dreams of distant lands like Cathay. He is intelligent, imaginative, and deeply attached to his family: his gruff but tender father Will, his twin brothers Tom and…
Joan Fitzgerald is the fourteen-year-old daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and she is conspicuously absent from Edward's welcome at Maynooth Castle, arriving only at dinner with sharp blue eyes and high black eyebrows that unsettle him from the first moment. She is brilliant, ruthless, well-read, and…
Viscount Lovell first appears as the nobleman in the drab hat who arrives at John Collan's farm with Maister Richard Simons. He inspects the boy clinically, comparing his colouring and build to Clarence, and informs him that "John Collan" is finished. From this first encounter, Lovell operates with…
The Earl of Lincoln enters the narrative at an inn where he meets Simnel for the first time, bowing to the boy and calling him "your Grace." He is young, kind, beautifully dressed, and radiates a noble warmth that immediately wins Simnel's trust. Lincoln confesses guilt at having fought for Richard…
The Earl of Kildare is a boisterous, charismatic Irish lord who welcomes Edward to Maynooth Castle declaring him the exact image of his father Clarence. He rules his territory with a mixture of charm, violence, and political cunning that makes him one of the most powerful men in Ireland, "more Irish…
Beatrice is a small, fierce housemaid at Greenwich who befriends Simnel when he is working as a spit-turner in the royal kitchens. She shares her pie with him and refuses to stop defending him despite the danger of associating with a convicted pretender. Her stubbornness mirrors aspects of both…
In the year 1483, a boy called John Collan lives on a prosperous English farm with his father Will, the sharp-tongued dairymaid Jennott, and the memory of his dead mother, whose rosemary-scented hair he can only recall because his older twin brothers mentioned it. Tom and Oliver have left for…
Jennott's departure leaves a void in John's life. She marries Thomas Urry and moves to Southampton, offering her final counsel: be decent, avoid unnecessary fights, and never let the goat make a fool of him. She also confides a secret, revealing that she herself was born of adultery and once bought…
Political news swings wildly through 1484 and into 1485. Henry Tudor escapes Brittany to France, where the boy-king Charles VIII promises to support his invasion. Lambert prays desperately for Richard to survive. He advances to reading Horace, and his debates with Maister Richard grow sharper.…
Christmas in Oxford brings a brief reprieve. Lambert wins three pennies at cards and sees them as the seed of his escape fund. Bella continues secretly searching Maister Richard's papers, and Lambert catches her at it but decides not to report her. At the bull baiting, Lambert tries to slip away,…
Simnel sees the sea for the first time at Dover and is awed. Miles and Jenkin depart without ceremony. A seasick priest accompanies him on the crossing to Burgundy. His copy of The Canterbury Tales blows overboard. He befriends the Flemish sailors, who remind him of his village friends, and in a…
Margaret continues the story of Clarence's downfall. After Isabel Neville died, Clarence lost his wits entirely: he murdered three servants, accused Queen Elizabeth Woodville of sorcery, and burst into the King's council chambers raving. He was arrested, charged with treason (including the secret…
Edward settles into life at Maynooth, confined within the castle walls to maintain secrecy from Henry's allies, the Butler family. Kildare explains that the Pale, the English-controlled area, barely functions under English law, and the Fitzgeralds are "more Irish than the Irish." News arrives that…
Elizabeth of York gives birth to Prince Arthur on Saint Eustace's Day, named to echo the legend of Camelot. Lincoln attends the christening, still playing the Tudor loyalist. Joan writes a bawdy parody of the court poet's celebratory verses. She finds a bottle of whiskey hidden behind the chapel…
Joan writes her own dream vision about an executioner while regularly searching Edward's papers, finding his hidden love odes and mocking them. Henry demands Bishop Stillington's arrest. Lincoln flees England to Mechelen without visiting his parents, writing to Edward, "I'll see them soon enough, or…
Edward composes a fabliau about their planned escape, imagining the happy ending. On the night of the escape, he rises before dawn and goes to his door, but a gallowglass guard blocks his way and refuses to let him pass. From somewhere in the castle comes the sound of a woman screaming. Edward…
Edward is taken from his cell to confess before Henry's men: Lord Chamberlain Sir William Stanley and Lord Chancellor Bishop Morton. He gives his name as Lambert Simnel, inventing a dead joiner father to protect the Collans. He refuses to reveal Lovell's whereabouts. Morton tells him they have…
The Burgundian ambassador brings messages from Margaret and Philip, but Simnel must deny any connection. Lady Catherine FitzAlan whispers her loyalty to him during a hunt, but Simnel refuses to betray her to Henry, despite Joan's imagined voice urging ruthlessness. At Woodstock, a gentleman named…
Beatrice confesses she loves the laundress Elyn and despairs of ever having a household together. A new pretender appears: a young man in Cork claiming to be Richard, Duke of York, backed by France, Margaret, and the Yorkist exile John Taylor. Simnel has been replaced. Morton rants about Margaret's…
Henry orchestrates a public humiliation, dressing Simnel as a cupbearer to serve wine at a banquet for the Irish lords. Simnel carries the cup past men who once knelt at his coronation. Lord Killeen refuses to drink; Lord Howth laughs and takes the wine gladly. Kildare takes a deep draft and says…
Lambert Simnel begins life as John Collan, a farm boy in rural England who devises elaborate military strategies to outwit a goat and dreams of distant lands like Cathay. He is intelligent, imaginative, and deeply attached to his family: his gruff but tender father Will, his twin brothers Tom and…
Joan Fitzgerald is the fourteen-year-old daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and she is conspicuously absent from Edward's welcome at Maynooth Castle, arriving only at dinner with sharp blue eyes and high black eyebrows that unsettle him from the first moment. She is brilliant, ruthless, well-read, and…
Viscount Lovell first appears as the nobleman in the drab hat who arrives at John Collan's farm with Maister Richard Simons. He inspects the boy clinically, comparing his colouring and build to Clarence, and informs him that "John Collan" is finished. From this first encounter, Lovell operates with…
The Earl of Lincoln enters the narrative at an inn where he meets Simnel for the first time, bowing to the boy and calling him "your Grace." He is young, kind, beautifully dressed, and radiates a noble warmth that immediately wins Simnel's trust. Lincoln confesses guilt at having fought for Richard…
The Earl of Kildare is a boisterous, charismatic Irish lord who welcomes Edward to Maynooth Castle declaring him the exact image of his father Clarence. He rules his territory with a mixture of charm, violence, and political cunning that makes him one of the most powerful men in Ireland, "more Irish…
Beatrice is a small, fierce housemaid at Greenwich who befriends Simnel when he is working as a spit-turner in the royal kitchens. She shares her pie with him and refuses to stop defending him despite the danger of associating with a convicted pretender. Her stubbornness mirrors aspects of both…
A peasant boy named John Collan lives on an English farm in the 1480s, raised by a gruff but loving father, surrounded by the rhythms of rural life and the company of a sharp-tongued dairymaid called Jennott. His world is intimate, bounded by village gossip, a troublesome goat, and ballads recited by firelight. When a mysterious nobleman arrives and claims that John is actually Edward, son of the executed Duke of Clarence and true Earl of Warwick, the boy is torn from everything he knows and thrust into a conspiracy to reclaim the English throne from the newly established Tudor dynasty.