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The Ashes of London
The Ashes of London
The Ashes of London
Audiobook12 hours

The Ashes of London

Written by Andrew Taylor

Narrated by Leighton Pugh

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

The first book in the No. 1 Times bestselling series

‘This is terrific stuff’ Daily Telegraph

‘A breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era’ Financial Times

‘A masterclass in how to weave a well-researched history into a complex plot’ The Times

Over 1 Million Andrew Taylor Novels Sold!

A CITY IN FLAMES
London, 1666. As the Great Fire consumes everything in its path, the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral – stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back.

A WOMAN ON THE RUN
The son of a traitor, James Marwood is forced to hunt the killer through the city’s devastated streets. There he encounters a determined young woman, who will stop at nothing to secure her freedom.

A KILLER SEEKING REVENGE
When a second murder victim is discovered in the Fleet Ditch, Marwood is drawn into the political and religious intrigue of Westminster – and across the path of a killer with nothing to lose…

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateApr 7, 2016
ISBN9780008119102
The Ashes of London
Author

Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of crime novels, including the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed drama Fallen Angel, and the historical crime novels The Ashes of London, The Silent Boy, and The American Boy, a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller and a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club Choice. He has won many awards, including the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger.

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Reviews for The Ashes of London

Rating: 3.7130682386363634 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

176 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked the historical details in this book involving the aftermath of the great fire in London in 1666, but I felt that the book was missing a compelling central mystery and it all seemed rather pointless. The story followed two characters whose lives intersected at various points in the book. James Marwood held a junior clerk position which barely enabled him to support himself and his father who was developing dementia. His father had been involved in a conspiracy to murder the King and was imprisoned in 1661 and was now a pariah following his release from prison. Catherine Lovett was a 17-year-old girl whose father had been involved in the same conspiracy. She was now being forced to marry a man that she didn't love. However she was no shrinking violet, she aspired to be an architect and sometimes she was a little too quick to use her knife. Two dead bodies turned up in London and the murders of the victims also seemed to be linked to the old conspiracy. An aide to the King asked Marwood to help with the investigation of these murders. My problem with the book was that there was no suspense. I never got a sense of what was at risk or what the stakes were. Even at the end of the book, I still didn't understand why the two men were murdered, and I didn't particularly care. I like historical fiction and I wasn't bored by the book, but as crime fiction it missed the mark.I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel proved to be one of those precious finds that offer, besides an intriguing story to follow, a peek into a historical period I know next to nothing about, so that I feel compelled to search online more details and learn something new in the process. The background for The Ashes of London is that of the Restoration, the time in which King Charles II ascended to the throne of England after the execution of his father, Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell’s rule: in September 1666 the city of London was devastated by fire, and it’s during the final days of this disastrous occurrence - and its aftermath - that the book’s events take place.James Marwood is a civil servant trying to keep a low profile in the hope that his masters forget he’s the son of one of the revolutionaries whose movement brought about the demise of the previous king: saddled with the difficult task of caring for his ailing father, whose time in prison after the conspiracy’s failure left him weakened in both body and mind, Marwood is torn between his filial duties and the need to further his career so that he can tend to what’s left of his family in reasonable comfort. Catherine Lovett is the daughter of one of the conspirators as well, her father being a wanted fugitive: she’s been left in the care of an uncle who is keen on marrying her off to a very unsavory character, while all she dreams about is architectural design, an unheard-of pastime for a woman in those days. The paths of these two characters are destined to cross, in part due to various circumstances and in part because of both their fathers’ affiliations, while the city of London tries to recover from the still-smoldering fires and a series of bizarre murders reveals the dangerous undercurrents running through the political and social fabric of the realm.I very much appreciated the intriguing mix at the roots of this book, where historical fiction blends with a crime investigation and a good dose of political plotting and conspiracies, but most of all I enjoyed the “time travel” opportunities offered by the story, thanks to the descriptions of the day-to-day life of 17th Century England and the great social turmoil lurking under the surface. What I found particularly fascinating were the details of the city of London, which the author was able to depict with a cinematic, quite evocative quality that brought to life the sounds, sights - and unfortunately smells - of a bustling city which was grievously wounded by the Great Fire. There is an intriguing parallel here between the precarious political situation, in which the new King knows he still has to deal with the remnants of the conspiracy which prompted his father’s downfall, and the daily struggles of the citizenry, whose houses have been destroyed by the fire and have to live in ramshackle hovels or in the ruins of their burned-out homes, with no certainty about the immediate future. This is the background on which the main themes of civil unrest and inequality stand, together with a look at the social mores of the times and their consequences on people, particularly the two main characters.James Marwood was soon able to inspire my sympathy, not least because his POV is written in the first person, allowing us to be instantly privy to his thoughts and troubles: as he deals with his professional duties, which are carried on through the double difficulty of being effective while keeping a low profile, we understand he’s a decent human being gifted with a good heart, and if sometimes he struggles with the frustration of having to care for a father who tethers between dementia and the dreams of a “new order”, he does so with such a deeply ingrained affection and respect for the old man, that it’s impossible not to feel for him.Catherine, on the other hand, is more feisty and combative (often, and with reason, very fiercely so), and she’s also very “modern”, character-wise, because of her keen interest for architecture, which leads her to dream of a more unfettered life - practically an impossibility in those times. She is no frivolous dreamer, though, and when circumstances require her to adapt to change, sometimes through harrowing events, she shows a resiliency and an inner strength that are nothing if not admirable. Both Cat and Marwood suffer for the sins of their respective fathers, offering the opportunity for a commentary on a society that visits those sins on the innocent offspring of past conspirators.Alongside these two main characters move a number of intriguing figures which help depict quite clearly the atmosphere of the times through their greed and depravity, cunning and coarseness, without forgetting the proverbial movers and shakers - some of them real-life persons - who complete this fascinating picture of an era of turmoil and change. Among them I want to mention Mistress Alderley, Cat’s aunt, who under her unprepossessing exterior shows great skills in being the proverbial power behind the throne in more ways than one; or the ruling monarch Charles II, who in a very human moment shows his desire to know more about the father he barely knew before he was killed; and again Edward, Cat’s despicable cousin who represents the entitled attitude of the lesser nobility who believes nothing and no one can stand in their way.The Ashes of London is a very immersive portrayal of a time and a place I know I will enjoy visiting again through the next books, and it represents one of the best bookish finds of this year so far.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First in a series of historical mysteries set in Restoration London, this one begins as the city burns. James Marwood is both helping with the water brigade and overseeing the damage when he sees a young boy break through the barriers and head towards St. Paul's cathedral. He catches the hysterical boy and brings him to his rooms to calm him down. He soon notices that the boy is really a girl, and she runs off, stealing the cloak he had covered her with. Cat Lovett is the niece and ward of her uncle by marriage, Sir Henry Alderley, a wealthy goldsmith on good terms with the king. Cat is facing a marriage to a man she neither loves nor respects; what she really wants to do is draw buildings and plan cities. The situation, and the unwanted attentions of her cousin Edward, lead to Cat running away. She lands a servant position in a boarding house. One of the residents, Master Wakely, is working with Christopher Wren on plans to rebuild the city, and he allows Cat (now known as Jane) to assist with minor tasks. But her mind is on finding her father, a member of a religious sect that supported the execution of Charles I and now believes that his son, Charles II, must be taken down in order for King Jesus to rule the world.Meanwhile, Marwood's employer brings him into the investigation of two murders: bodies have been found with their thumbs tied together behind their backs. In the course of his discovery, Alderley's second wife, Olivia, asks Marwood to find her niece Cat--and the king, be it known through Mrs. Alderley and the King's confident Chiffinch, want to find Cat's father. The situation is complicated by the fact that Marwood's father was a member of the King Jesus group and spent years in prison upon the restoration of the monarchy. Now, feeble and becoming senile, he is dependent on his son, and James is aware that their loyalty is being closely watched.I am not a big fan of mysteries of any sort, so other readers might enjoy this one a lot more than I did. It was a plus that I know a good deal about this period of English history, and Taylor does a good job of recreating the customs and appearance of Restoration London and of the unpredictable nature of the king. I needed a fairly light read, and this was a farily good one, but I probably won't be pursuing the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Really enjoyed the audiobook narration. You could almost smell the smoke and ash of the fire.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good, fast-paced tale of post-fire London. Lots of interesting bits about the Restoration and rebuilding, plus about the printing and publishing trades (though I'd be happy to have had even more of that). Best of all, there are two more books out in the series to look forward to.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Ashes of London. Interesting book that tends to wander a bit and is therefore a bit too long. The boring walks through the burned out streets are repeated again and again. I felt if the author described the coat of arms on the coach door in detail one more time I would throw the book at the wall. I would not rush to buy another of his books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I´m deducting points from this as a) it was evident who the murder was pretty much from the beginning of the novel, and b) there were huge swathes of text that rambled on incessantly. Having said that, I found this an interesting read if only for the historical context of the story - both the political stuation and the aftermath of the great fire.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book revealed the killer early on and never explained the reasons for the murders that occurred. This kind of breaks the basis rule of writing a crime novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    James Marwood, a Whitehall clerk, watches the deadly fire of 1666 ravish St. Paul's. Catherine Lovett ("Cat") bites his hand, stealing his cloak. Not all the bodies found in the aftermath died due to the fire. A couple bear the marks of a murder. It's a time of political turmoil. Cat soon flees the city after attempting to gouge out the eye of a cousin. The main characters, while fairly well-developed, failed to make me care whether they came out alive or not -- in fact, I probably wished ill on some of the ones who did. The reader probably knew a bit too much about what was going on whereas a little suspense would have improved the book. While I'm not sorry I read it, I was surprised by the direction the book took. The mystery element was not as strong as the theme of politics during the time of Cromwell. I would prefer more mystery and less politics.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A mixed bag of characters caught in the political minefield that was Restoration London - as London burns James Marwood, a young clerk in Whitehall prevents a boy from running into St. Paul's only to discover he's rescued an ungrateful young woman who bites him and flees with his second best cloak. He's the son of a man recently released from the Tower and she, Catherine Lovett, the daughter of an uncaught regicide, and both of those parents belong to a sect preaching the coming of King Jesus in 1666. If things aren't already bad enough bodies start turning up.A well told story that moves smoothly through murky politics and takes us all over what's left of London. I never quite buy into either James or Catherine - they just seem puppets moving the plot along, but the peripheral characters have some flavor.The map on the Kindle is rubbish, and a good map would have been great to follow the action though burnt and unburnt London - I found a few online that together provided most of the locations, though I guess none of them bother labeling Ludgate - I guess if you don't know where it is you shouldn't bother to read a book set in London.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The son of a rebel investigates a couple of murders that take place around the Great Fire of London. Enjoyed the historical detail, and the difficulties faced by sections of society when Cromwell's Commonwealth reverted to a kingdom. Felt Taylor was more comfortable with the chapters from Marwood' POV, a character trying to do his best whilst coping with a senile father, than the young woman's POV, a woman who yearns to be an architect who swiftly punishes any man who takes liberties with her, dragging the story into melodrama. Didn't feel particularly curious about the who-dunnit & would have preferred more detail on the Fire & how people coped.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ashes of LondonThis story takes place in 1666 after a major fire in London that destroys much of the inner core of the city, including St. Paul’s cathedral. Charles II has been reinstated as the monarch after the disastrous government of Cromwell. The main character is James Marwood who is the son of one of the regicides, responsible for the beheading of Charles I. He works as a clerk for the editor of the Gazette and becomes involved in the investigation of two murders which happened during the fire.The secondary character is Catherine Lovett whose father Thomas was also involved in the beheading.Their stories are intertwined as James slowly unravels the perpetrator.I slogged my way through this and found it to be tedious and the ending unsatisfactory.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The setting for this book is London in the immediate aftermath of the Great Fire of 1666. The story concerns the search for a serial killer, but is muddied by the politics surrounding King Charles II who is trying to track down the Regicides - the men actively involved in the execution of his father, Charles I. The investigator, James Marwood, is himself the son of a Regicide and struggles to keep himself and his enfeebled father out of harm's way. Marwood's work entwines with the life of a young woman who may or may not be directly involved in the crimes.Taylor, an experienced and much decorated novelist, has produced an intelligent and complex story with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. All of his characters are conflicted and we see the good and bad in all of them. This reflects the disturbing and unbalanced politics of the time. His descriptions of the Fire and London life afterwards are excellent. This is historical fiction not a very high order indeed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was the first book of Andrew Taylor I have read a very much enjoyed it. I thought the characters were well developed and the plot moved along at a nice pace.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was given an ARC copy of this book awhile ago, and I didn't get to it until now. I am glad that I finally read it. This is a wonderful historical suspense and thriller book. The time is 17 century London during the time of the Restoration, and the Great Fire of London. It opens in September 1666, and the whole of London is burning. Nothing is safe from the ravenous flames, not even the great cathedral of St. Paul's. The two protaganists of this story meet outside the burning cathedral. James Marwood, a young clerk who works as a very junior member in Whitehall, is watching the cathedral burn when a young lad bumps into him. The lad is terrified and cold and Marwood gives him his cloak. Little does he know that the young lad is not a lad at all, but a young woman on the run from her abusive family, and that he will be tasked with trying to hunt this woman down throughout all of London the day after he bumed into her. A partially burnt body turns up in the ashes of St. Paul's. It is apparent that the body is a recent one, as opposed to many long-buried ones that got tossed out of their crypts and graves during the fire. The book moves swiftly through the streets and byways of London while Marwood pursues his prey. London is a very dangerous at this time. King Charles II has a tenuous hold as monarch, and he is set on seeking and destroying the remaining members of Cromwell's followers and, more importantly to him, anyone who had anything at all to do with the beheading of his father. Lies, secrets, blind alleys, red herrings, extreme danger - all are in this book and very well portrayed by Andrew Taylor. He has a very good knowledge of this time in England's history and his writing skills are excellent. I'd like to thank Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of 17 century spy craft.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Great Fire of London has been raging for days, and on the night St Paul’s Cathedral burns, James Marwood saves the life of a young woman who repays him by assaulting him and stealing his cloak. But over the coming weeks, as it becomes obvious that a serial killer stalks the ruins and Marwood becomes embroiled in the machinations of Whitehall, Marwood’s and the unknown woman’s paths cross repeatedly, until they finally come face to face again in a dramatic showdown at the top of St Paul’s Cathedral’s ruined tower.Andrew Taylor is known for his well-researched and atmospheric historical fiction novels. His ability to bring the past to life is again in evidence here, and the images he conjures up of the devastated London streets and buildings reminded me of photographs of the Blitz, nearly 300 years later. These scenes are particularly memorable, along with the above-mentioned showdown at the top of St Paul’s Cathedral, the descriptions of which managed to evoke feelings of vertigo and dizziness in me just by reading them. Taylor also excels in bringing to life the uncertainty and confusion following the execution of Charles I, the end of the Civil War and the Restoration of the Monarchy, including the religious beliefs and divisions of the time, with religious fanatics, in this case the Fifth Monarchists, able to excuse their actions, which include abduction and murder, with the belief that they’re acting in God’s name, a view which sadly hasn’t changed in the intervening years as the recent attacks in Manchester and London have shown.I wish the author had paid equal attention to developing his characters and the murder mystery at the heart of the novel. While the aptly named Cat is fierce and independent, a very modern heroine in her views and attitudes, and not content to let others decide her fate for her, James Marwood on the other hand remains a pale shadow throughout most of the novel, buffeted by the forces around him, and only at the end of the book does he show a semblance of defiance and spirit. Similarly, the plot threads making up the events and motivations involving the multiple killings are, even now, not entirely clear to me, and a lot more could have been done to make this aspect of the novel more thrilling. A second narrative thread involving Charles II efforts to hunt down the Regicides who had a hand in his father’s execution, is subtly woven through the main plot and a lot more plausible than the tacked-on serial killings, and held one or two surprises in store. On the whole though, the plot, told partly in Marwood’s voice, rather bumbles along until the thrilling showdown already mentioned.Though this novel could be seen as a stand-alone, the ending does make me feel as if we haven’t seen the last of James Marwood and Cat Lovett, and one of the reviews in the prelims promises that this is indeed the beginning of a new series. If that’s the case, I’ll definitely be on board for the sequel(s) despite a somewhat lacklustre start.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It is a while since I have read anything by Andrew Taylor (although there is plenty to choose from)The Stuart Monarchy was restored in 1660 but things were far from easy for Charles II. There were plenty of opponents to the Restoration. Bubonic plague struck in 1665 and now in 1666 came a devastating fire. The King played a decisive role in fighting the fire, giving instructions to firefighters about blowing up buildings to slow the path of the fire, but there are other things to worry about too.There is a plot to finish the work begun by the execution of Charles I, to prepare the way for King Jesus.James Marwood's father, a Regicide himself, and a Fifth Monarchist, took his young son to the Banqueting House to witness the beheading of the king in 1649, and he has never forgotten what he saw. Marwood's father, now suffering dementia and in poor health, has been allowed to live in seclusion but there is always the threat of the past taking its retribution.The story is told from two points of view: the first person narrative of James Marwood, working for a newspaper publisher, and a third person narrative which follows the story of Cat Lovett, also the child of a Fifth Monarchist. Her father is thought to be abroad having fled when the new King was crowned. The reader has the advantage of being able to meld the two stories.The historical detail in the story is entrancing. Both James Marwood and Cat Lovett become connected with Master Hakesby, an elderly draughtsman who is working with Dr Wren, the architect and mathematician whom the King has appointed one of his Commissioners for the rebuilding of London. It is inevitable that their paths will cross
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this book, but I felt as if the author had put too much effort into the historical detail, which was fascinating, and not enough into the main characters.London was fabulously realised, perhaps in too much detail if that makes sense so that you become engrossed in that, rather than in the characters.Why was Cat so violent? You were given the reasoning, and you can understand the reasoning, but I just did not feel the emotional honesty of the character. You may say that they are after all fictional characters, and perhaps I am asking too much, but I did feel that despite the great effort made by the author to successfully recreate the historic milieu, he just moved the characters around the sumptuous set!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At the start of this novel there is the suggestion that it will be yet another predictable historical romance. As it turns out there is precious little, if any, romance to be seen. Some lust but no romance.With the backdrop of the dying embers of the Fire of London, the chaos following the Civil War and the restoration of Charles, this tale follows the fortunes of a young girl. There are those who seek her and those she seeks, some to help and some to hinder. A thouroughly enjoyable story.