Shardlake books: How to read all of CJ Sansom's books in order
The four-part adaptation of Sansom's book, Dissolution, is now available to stream on Disney Plus.
Brand new Disney Plus series Shardlake is releasing at a strange time for fans of the novels on which it is based, as it comes just days after the passing of author CJ Sansom.
A lawyer turned full-time novelist, Sansom was behind the series of books which followed Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer himself working in Tudor times, who solves mysteries throughout the stories and tries to avoid getting caught up in the politics of the era.
The four-part adaptation for Disney Plus stars Arthur Hughes in the title role, while Sean Bean plays Thomas Cromwell and Anthony Boyle plays Jack Barak, a character first introduced in Sansom's second novel, but who is brought up to play a major role in the first story on-screen.
Read on for everything you need to know about the Shardlake novels and how to read them in order.
How many of the Shardlake books does season 1 adapt?
The first season of Shardlake just adapts the first book in CJ Sansom's series, Dissolution, which was first released in 2003. The season is four episodes long, with the novel's story split up into those four parts.
Previously, Dissolution was set to be adapted by the BBC in 2007, with that version set to star Kenneth Branagh. However, the project never made it to air.
How many books are there in the Shardlake series?
In total, there are seven novels in the Shardlake series, running from Dissolution, which was released in 2003, through to Tombland, which was released in 2018.
The novels were released in chronological order, with each taking place a year or two apart. This is, therefore, the order in which they should be read:
- Dissolution (2003 - set in 1537)
- Dark Fire (2004 - set in 1540)
- Sovereign (2006 - set in 1541)
- Revelation (2008 - set in 1543)
- Heartstone (2010 - set in 1545)
- Lamentation (2014 - set in 1546)
- Tombland (2018 - set in 1549)
When Sansom's death was announced on 29th April 2024, Maria Rejt said that the author was working on a new Shardlake novel called Ratcliff, but that "his worsening health made progress painfully slow: his meticulous historical research and his writing were always so important to him".
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Will the Disney Plus series adapt more of the books?
We don't yet know whether there will be future seasons of Shardlake adapting the rest of the books, but that certainly seems to be the intention from the show's creatives and stars.
At a recent Q&A for the series, writer Stephen Butchard was asked whether a second season was on the cards, with future instalments adapting subsequent books.
He said: "We have talked about future series, and that was part of the reason also of bringing Jack Barak into the first. Hopefully it will happen, but you just never know. It's a funny industry, you don't know how audiences are going to react to it, so there's other factors.
"But, as a creative group, I think we would all love to do it."
Meanwhile, speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, Jack Barak star Anthony Boyle said that he and the other cast members hadn't had any discussions about future outings "at this point", but added that "it would be great if we did".
In the same interview, Shardlake star Arthur Hughes added: "I hope so. The story of these characters, I think, just gets deeper and better, as the whole political situation with Henry VIII and all his wives and the machinations of Cromwell and everything is going on, and Shardlake and Barak are very much in the middle of it. I think they just get better and better.
"People love the Tudor period, and this is a story told from a different perspective. It's normally told... you know, it's Wolf Hall, it's Henry VIII, it's A Man for All Seasons, it's told at the top. This story is told at the normal person in that Tudor society's level. Barak and Shardlake are just people going about their business and that are caught up.
"So I hope there'd be the appetite to tell the rest, because they’re pretty good, I think."
Shardlake premiered on Disney Plus on Wednesday 1st May. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.
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