Jo Harkin talks to Matthew Stadlen

Novelist Jo Harkin discusses her new work of historical fiction inspired by the true story of Lambert Simnel, a boy of humble origins who rose to become the figurehead of the Century Yorkist rebellion of 1487 and worked in Henry VII’s court as a falconer.

John Collan is stolen from his family at the age of 12 and exiled first to Oxford then to Burgundy and Ireland. He is apprenticed to a series of unscrupulous operators then groomed for power as Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick. John finds himself miles from home preparing for a war that will see him become king or die trying.

The Pretender is Harkin’s second novel. Her first, Tell me an Ending, was a New York Times book of the year. Here she talks to broadcaster and author Matthew Stadlen.