I had already been drawn to The Drowned City, the first in a new series of historical mysteries set in the 17th century, before it dawned on me that KJ Maitland was Karen Maitland, an author whose books I’ve enjoyed in the past. All the more reason to want to read it, then!
In January 1606, exactly a year after the execution of the conspirators who tried to blow up Parliament in the failed Gunpowder Plot, a towering wave sweeps up the Bristol Channel, leaving a scene of devastation. Whole families are drowned, buildings are swept away and farmland is destroyed. As the survivors try to come to terms with what has happened, rumours begin to arise. Some say the wave was summoned by witches, others that it was God’s way of taking revenge for the executions. The King’s most trusted adviser, Charles FitzAlan, fears that it’s all part of another Catholic conspiracy and decides to send someone to Bristol to investigate. Luckily, he knows just the man for the job…
That man is Daniel Pursglove, currently languishing in Newgate Prison awaiting what seems to be certain death. Daniel’s particular background and skills have brought him to FitzAlan’s attention and when he is offered his freedom in return for carrying out some investigations in Bristol, he jumps at the chance. Arriving in the city, Daniel begins his search for the missing Catholic conspirator known as Spero Pettingar, but almost immediately finds himself caught up in another mystery – a series of murders. Are they all part of the same plot or is something else going on in the flooded city?
Like Maitland’s earlier novels, this is a dark and atmospheric story with an interesting historical setting. I’ve never read anything about the Bristol Channel Floods of 1607 (or 1606; Maitland uses the old Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian), so that was something completely new for me. The descriptions of the devastated city in the aftermath of the wave are vivid and even quite eerie and almost otherworldly. It’s always refreshing to read historical novels with a setting other than London, and the flooded Bristol, in a superstitious age when natural disasters were often attributed to witchcraft or messages from heaven, was the perfect choice for this particular story.
Although there a few real historical characters in the book, notably Robert Cecil, most are fictional. Daniel Pursglove, the central character in this and presumably the rest of the series, intrigued me as we know so little about him at first. What is his background? How did he come to be a prisoner? What are the special talents that make him so suitable for this task? As the story unfolds, so does our understanding of Daniel and gradually some of our questions are answered. I’m sure we’ll be learning more about him in future books.
Where this book was less successful, in my opinion, was with the mystery element; once Daniel arrives in Bristol the plot takes off in so many different directions I kept forgetting what his original purpose was in going there. Had it been shorter and more tightly focused, I think I would have enjoyed it much more; instead, I found myself struggling to keep track of what was happening at times. Still, this is a promising start to a new series and I’m definitely interested in reading the second book.
Thanks to Headline for providing a review copy of this book via NetGalley.
Book 16/50 read for the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
She Reads Novels 
I think it’s great minds think alike on this one. For me, it could have lost 50 pages without sacrificing anything of the atmosphere but it would have improved the pace. Like you, I’d never heard of the Bristol flood before this. One of the reasons I enjoy historical fiction is coming across nuggets like this.
Yes, you can learn such a lot from historical fiction!
I’ve heard of the Bristol floods, but I can’t remember why!
I had never heard about them until now, but flooded Bristol made a fascinating setting!
I might want to try one of Karen Maitlands books. What’s your favourite so far?
I’ve only read three of her other books so far, but I think my favourite is probably The Vanishing Witch.
The Bristol Flood is new to me and I would like to read about this and what follows. Historical mysteries are a favourite of mine anyway. Thank you for the review.
I love historical mysteries too and it was good to read one with a different setting.
Sounds good. I’ve read just one Karen Maitland (so far) so will look out for this one. I know Bristol reasonably well so I’m aware of their flooding issues (and some of that history).
I knew nothing about the 1607 Bristol flood, so it was a completely new historical setting for me.
This sounds like a fascinating time and setting – I too knew nothing about this flood – and as I have enjoyed books by Maitland before, I will have to keep this in mind for future reading. I hope it won’t be long till the next book in series comes out for you, Helen 🙂
I think you might like this one as you’ve enjoyed some of Karen Maitland’s other books and it’s not all that different, despite being written under a different name.
Thank you, Helen 🙂
I haven’t read anything about the Bristol Channel Floods either and am interested in learning about it. However, if the mystery storyline is lacking I won’t be reading the book.
It works better as historical fiction than it does as a mystery. It was fascinating to learn about the Bristol Floods, though.