''The Clerkenwell Tales'' is an historical novel by English writer

Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...

, first published in 2003.

Plot summary

The novel is set in London in the year 1399, a year of revolt, revolution and religious conspiracy. As

Henry Bolingbroke Henry IV ( April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of Fran ...

challenges Richard II for the throne of England the reader's attention is focused on Dominus, a secret society of religious fundamentalists, known to history as

Lollards Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic ...

. The story is oriented similar to Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'' and makes use of some of the characters from ''The Canterbury Tales'' as well. It turns on the conspiracies of a religious sect, led by the mad nun and making use of the prophecies of the mad Clerkenwell nun to foment panic and hysteria to bring forth the dethroning of Richard II. The result is a gothic novel which effortlessly merges fact and fiction into an almost recognizable alternate history.

References

2003 British novels English novels British mystery novels British historical novels Novels set in London Novels by Peter Ackroyd Chatto & Windus books {{1990s-gothic-novel-stub