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Company of Liars (Hardcover)

by Karen Maitland (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 576 pages
  • Publisher: Michael Joseph (31 Jan 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0718153227
  • ISBN-13: 978-0718153229
  • Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.8 x 4.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 127,035 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Daily Express

'A richly evocative page-turner which brings to life a lost and terrible period of British history, with a disturbing final twist worthy of a master of the spine-tingler, such as Henry James'


Mirror

'Compelling and highly atmospheric'
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Customer Reviews

54 Reviews
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 (11)
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 (7)
2 star:
 (3)
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 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (54 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite entertainment, 16 May 2009
By Didier (Ghent, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Company of Liars (Paperback)
Historical novels are the love of my life (apart from my wife and kids that is), and this is very probably one of the very best I've ever read.

The year is 1348, when the plague laid most of Europe waste. Camelot is a seller of fake relics, and when the plague reaches England he decides to try and outrun it, heading north. Along the way, he picks up other misfits until they make up a company of nine: the Venetian musician Rodrigo and his pupil Jofre, the one-armed storyteller Cygnus, the painter Osmond and his wife Adela who is with child, the conjuror Zophiel, and the midwife Pleasance who has a remarkable, white-haired child with her: Narigorm. Together they set out trying to outrun the plague.

What happens next is an incredibly engrossing story, told with gusto. This is one of those novels that keep you up at night, unable to stop reading, eager to know what'll happen next. England during the plague is described in such telling and colourful details that the place comes alive, and you cannot help but feel 'this is surely how it must have felt like in reality'. England in the grip of the plague swiftly descends into chaos, and lawlessness becomes the rule. And through this bleak landscape, rain constantly pouring down, the nine companions trudge on and slowly get to know each other better.

Before long it becomes clear that each of them has a secret to hide, and none of them is what they make out to be. All have have been beaten down and trodden upon by life's mishaps, and - sometimes for the best of reasons or quite simply because they had no other choice - are now living a lie, haunted by their past.

550 pages of superb entertainment for the price of barely two packs of cigarettes, what are you waiting for?
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Truth Will Out, 25 Feb 2008
If the plague ever hits your home town and you have to make a dash for safety, be very careful who you choose as companions. This riveting medieval who (or what) dunnit leads you along the not so safe path away from the ravages of the Black Death into the clutches of a mysterious killer. Keeping you company are a motley crew including conjurers, musicians and a secretive dealer in Holy Relics, not to mention a very scary rune reader that almost put me off children forever. As they flee for their lives, they also flee from the lies on which those lives have been built to face the brutal and often fatal consequences of truth. The detail is superb, the research spot on and the atmosphere suitably grim. There is little in the way of mercy, respite or humour, so be ready for a colourful journey into the one of the darker periods of English history.
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully satisfying read...., 5 Feb 2008
This book is just the ticket for anyone who's interested in matters medieval. The author clearly knows her stuff and imbues her story of characters all fleeing from the plague and wanting to find something at the end of their journey with a sense of menace and chill. Someone is killing off the characters and it isn't the pestilence. The travellers are a mixed bunch and all is not what it seems at any point in the narrative. There are clues and hints but the full force of the revelations is only grasped towards the end. There are elements of the supernatural and of fairy tales which go to thicken this well-written and fascinating story. Terrific stuff.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A page-turning mediaeval adventure
I started Karen Maitland's "Company of Liars" with no particular expectations, but was very quickly hooked. Read more
Published 4 days ago by purplepadma

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb historical novel
I am at a loss how anyone could give this superbly written and engrossing book a bad review let alone one or two stars. What more can they want? It has made me angry. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Demonica

4.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected pleasure
I cannot really remember why I bought this book. I know I was on a rainy summer holiday in Cornwall, and spending time wondering a bookshop to have a break from toyshops and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by G. Seaman

5.0 out of 5 stars loved it!
hands down this is one of the best books ive read in a while and i read a lot! lol
I've had this book since last christmas but didnt get around to reading it until last... Read more
Published 1 month ago by FUTURESTARdelux

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
I only read this book because it was on a leaflet re-a book club. I've never been to a book club, not my scene but saw the title and tried it. I've loved it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gypsy

5.0 out of 5 stars A proper page turner
A company of stangers travel together through Britain escaping the Plague.They encounter murder and mystery along the way, and gradually reveal thier own stories. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nursey

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange but I liked it
Once you've read the historical novels of Follett The Pillars of the Earthand Sansom Dissolution (Shardlake)(if you've not read these go and find them now! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Hannah Bourne

1.0 out of 5 stars NOT a novel of the plague
Company of Liars, a novel of the plague - so says the front cover.. That's what I wanted, but this has very little to do with the plague but is instead an odd, surreal (and not... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Louise Wynne

2.0 out of 5 stars the long and winding road
History is rich and ripe and with sound research, marrying it with exciting fiction is there for the taking. Read more
Published 2 months ago by monlibu

3.0 out of 5 stars Lost Opportunity
The Company of Liars is a strange book.

On the one hand it is quite an intriguing twist on the Canterbury tales. Read more
Published 3 months ago by H. meiehofer

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