Jasper Kent (born 1968) is an English author and composer. As a composer his work is generally in the field of musical theatre and his novel series include the Danilov Quintet and the Charlie Woolf Mysteries.

Biography

Born in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England, Jasper was educated at

King Edward's School, Birmingham King Edward's School (KES) is an independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the British Public school (UK), public school tradition, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Founded by Edward VI of England, King Edward VI in 1552, it ...

and read

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

(specializing in theoretical physics) at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. After graduating he worked as a software developer and consultant focusing on

object-oriented languages Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impleme ...

such as C++ and C# and

template metaprogramming Template metaprogramming (TMP) is a metaprogramming technique in which templates are used by a compiler to generate temporary source code, which is merged by the compiler with the rest of the source code and then compiled. The output of these te ...

. Notable clients have included

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

, Deloitte and Touche, BP,

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace company, aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes ...

and the UNICC. Jasper also provides training courses for Learning Tree International. Kent has worked for almost twenty years in musical theatre as a singer, instrumentalist, musical director and composer. He has performed backing vocals for various artistes including

Hinge and Bracket Hinge and Bracket was a British comedy and musical act consisting of two characters, Dr Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket, devised and played by female impersonators George Logan and Patrick Fyffe. Hinge and Bracket were portrayed as a pai ...

, Stig Rossen and

Russell Watson Russell Watson (born 24 November 1966) is an English crossover/popular singer, almost in the tenor range, who has released singles and albums of both quasi-operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after per ...

and in the role of musical director has conducted, amongst others, Lucy Montgomery and

Daniel Boys Daniel Boys (born 26 March 1979) is an English actor. He starred in the West End productions of the musicals ''Rent'' and ''Grease'' before being a 2007 contestant on the BBC talent series '' Any Dream Will Do''. Boys went on to star in many ...

. His four complete musicals are ''Writer’s Cramp'' and ''Malvolio’s Revenge'' (both written with Robert Renton) and ''The Promised Land'' and ''Remember! Remember!'' (with Robert Piatt and Robert Starr). ''The Promised Land'' was commissioned for and performed as part of the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations in 1996. ''Remember! Remember!'', a musical dramatization of the events of the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...

of 1605, has been produced as a studio CD recording and was premiered in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, England in October 2008. Jasper lives in the coastal Sussex town of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

Novels

Jasper is best known as the author of ''Twelve'', a supernatural historical thriller set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. The website Fantasy Book Review has ranked ''Twelve'' in sixth place in its list of all-time greatest historical fantasy novels. It has been translated into French, Polish, Italian and Turkish. ''Twelve'' is the first novel in the Danilov Quintet, which spans Russian history from the French invasion of 1812 to the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

of 1917.http://www.jasperkent.com/#DanilovQuintet-Twelve Jasper Kent's official website The second instalment, ''Thirteen Years Later'', culminating in the Decembrist Uprising of 1825, was released in the UK in 2010, the third, ''The Third Section'', in 2011 and the fourth, ''The People's Will'', in 2013. The last book of the series, ''The Last Rite'', was published in 2014. ''Late Whitsun'' is the first Charlie Woolf Mystery, set in Brighton, England in 1938. It was published in 2016 and blends aspects of both murder mystery and espionage. Two further stories in the series have working titles of ''The Stalactite Man'' and ''To Muddy Death'' (a reference to the death of

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultima ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

). Additionally, Jasper has written two as yet unpublished novels, ''Yours Etc''., ''Mr Sunday'', a murder mystery set in Brighton, and ''Sifr'', a contemporary thriller encompassing cryptography and the discoveries of

Roger Bacon Roger Bacon (; or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the Scholastic accolades, scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English polymath, philosopher, scientist, theologian and Franciscans, Franciscan friar who placed co ...

.http://www.johnjarrold.co.uk/clients/kent-jasper/ John Jarrold Literary Agency's website

Published works

Books The Danilov Quintet * * * * * Charlie Woolf * Albums *(2005) Remember! Remember! 2 Bob Productions.

References

External links

Jasper Kent's website

Official website for ''Remember! Remember!''
*
Story Behind People's Will by Jasper Kent - Online Essay

REVIEW : The People's Will
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Jasper 1968 births People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge English historical novelists English crime fiction writers English horror writers Living people