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A review by travelsalongmybookshelf
The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers
5.0
Hurrah! Another excellent historical fiction debut and one must surely be the start of a series…please say it is Jack Jewers and Moonflower books!
Samuel Pepys wrote one of the most famous diaries in the world, covering the plague and the Great Fire of London amongst other things. He abruptly stopped writing at the age of 36. But what if he didn’t?
This story imagines just that. It is 1669, Englands coffers are bare and tensions with the Dutch Republic are flaring. An investigator of the King sent to Portsmouth to look into corruption is murdered. Pepys is sent to find out along with his friend Will Hewer. He finds so much more than he bargained for, more murder, conspiracy and adventure on the high seas.
This is down right brilliant, I felt like I was running pell-mell from one tension filled scene to the next. Samuel Pepys is brought vividly to life, I loved the characterisations so much. Some of these people really existed so I as usual spent time reading about their real lives too, including the gruesome procedure that Pepys endures for bladder stones. This gave me vibes of the Shardlake series of books, and is so well realised it surely deserves a series of its own. Full of high stakes adventure, sword fighting, detection, grit, grime and some kick ass women to boot it is a debut not to be missed!
Samuel Pepys wrote one of the most famous diaries in the world, covering the plague and the Great Fire of London amongst other things. He abruptly stopped writing at the age of 36. But what if he didn’t?
This story imagines just that. It is 1669, Englands coffers are bare and tensions with the Dutch Republic are flaring. An investigator of the King sent to Portsmouth to look into corruption is murdered. Pepys is sent to find out along with his friend Will Hewer. He finds so much more than he bargained for, more murder, conspiracy and adventure on the high seas.
This is down right brilliant, I felt like I was running pell-mell from one tension filled scene to the next. Samuel Pepys is brought vividly to life, I loved the characterisations so much. Some of these people really existed so I as usual spent time reading about their real lives too, including the gruesome procedure that Pepys endures for bladder stones. This gave me vibes of the Shardlake series of books, and is so well realised it surely deserves a series of its own. Full of high stakes adventure, sword fighting, detection, grit, grime and some kick ass women to boot it is a debut not to be missed!