The Falconer's Knot - Mary Hoffman

Mark Robson

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Congrats to Mary for being shortlisted for the Guardian Prize with her new book, The Falconer's Knot, a historical fiction novel full of murder, mystery, mayhem and monks! I'm looking forward very much to reading it (got it today) and will put up a review as soon as I can.
 
Indeed... congratulations, Mary!:) (And I look forward to seeing your review, too, Mark....)
 
Have been selling copies of this book through recommendation wherever I've gone over the last week or two. I imagine this will continue throughout the Christmas season now. When I like a book, particularly one that's not quite in the same genre as mine, I'm always quick to let people know about it.

It was interesting to note that the librarian from Flintshire who organised my events there earlier this week was similarly raving about it. Between us we sold copies to both venues I was at. :)
 
I just received the book from amazon in today's mail, and I'm very much looking forward to reading it.

(Also, it has a gorgeous cover.)
 
I just received the book from amazon in today's mail, and I'm very much looking forward to reading it.

(Also, it has a gorgeous cover.)

I very much hope you like it, Teresa, and yes, it is a wonderful cover. The same designer, Ian Butterworth, has also come up with an equally lovely - though quite different - paperback jacket for April 08 in the UK. It is red and black with the knot hanging down like a noose and a shadowy monk figure in the background with a knife.

Mary
 
I managed to get hold of this :D.

First of all, I'm another admirer of the cover - the engravings along the margin are particularly good. I love it when you can actually feel the drawings on the cover, it makes the whole experience of anticipation before you start reading even better (I have a habit of soaking up the atmosphere before I actually open a book... otherwise it's over too fast!).

Oh, and I liked the story too! Silvano and Chiara are two well-drawn characters and although I still prefer Stravaganza this was a good substitute. However, I did completely fail to figure out the murderer...
 
I managed to get hold of this :D.

First of all, I'm another admirer of the cover ...

Oh, and I liked the story too! Silvano and Chiara are two well-drawn characters and although I still prefer Stravaganza this was a good substitute. However, I did completely fail to figure out the murderer...

Thank you, Lyanna. I'm so glad you liked it! And you're another one who didn't figure out "whodunnit." I'm glad I didn't make it too obvious.

And you're right - it IS a great cover. But I like the new paperback one too (April in the UK). I'll try to work out how to add a jacket image.

Mary
 
I read The Falconer's Knot and I found fantastic. (Pity that there has been the Italian translation, at least we would have put less time to read it)
I liked Silvano and Chiara and their history, because they're perfect.:)All events are beautiful and tell the culprit of the murders was really unexpected.In particular, the story of Isabella and Domenico fascinated me. I feel sorry for them because they were forced to break up but fortunately now they are together again.
In conclusion I liked the book and I like that there was a follow .
 
I read The Falconer's Knot and I found fantastic. (Pity that there has been the Italian translation, at least we would have put less time to read it)
I liked Silvano and Chiara and their history, because they're perfect.:)All events are beautiful and tell the culprit of the murders was really unexpected.In particular, the story of Isabella and Domenico fascinated me. I feel sorry for them because they were forced to break up but fortunately now they are together again.
In conclusion I liked the book and I like that there was a follow .

I'm so glad you liked it Arianna and well done for managing it in English. I am fascinated by Isabella and Domenico too. I'm not sure what you mean by "there was a follow."? There is no sequel. Troubadour is a freestanding historical novel set a hundred years earlier than TFK. But perhaps you meant something else?

Mary
 
My 13 yr old just finished The Falconer's Knot. She read it in about 2 days, really hardly put it down at all while we were home. She is insisting that I will like it, and I am putting it next on my list to read.

I have noticed the reviews for your books are all wonderful and quite often read by adults as well as the younger crowd. While I haven't read them yet, I still find it simply fantastic when books appeal to all ages. It is so refreshing having books to discuss with younger people, and seeing that thier ideas, opinions, and conclusions are not so different than mine.
 
My 13 yr old just finished The Falconer's Knot. She read it in about 2 days, really hardly put it down at all while we were home. She is insisting that I will like it, and I am putting it next on my list to read.

I have noticed the reviews for your books are all wonderful and quite often read by adults as well as the younger crowd. While I haven't read them yet, I still find it simply fantastic when books appeal to all ages. It is so refreshing having books to discuss with younger people, and seeing that thier ideas, opinions, and conclusions are not so different than mine.

Thank you Book Stop, and your daughter! I'm so glad she enjoyed it.

My agent thinks my latest historical novel is not a book for teenagers at all - "just a novel" as she put it. I would love Bloomsbury to market them as adult novels too but so far no luck.

Mary
 
Read it in 2 days myself, and that's saying something as we've been really busy around here and I had to stay up really late last night to finish it. I just didn't want to put it down. I can't believe my daughter guessed who the friary murderer was. She's good; I was stumped until the very end.
 
Read it in 2 days myself, and that's saying something as we've been really busy around here and I had to stay up really late last night to finish it. I just didn't want to put it down. I can't believe my daughter guessed who the friary murderer was. She's good; I was stumped until the very end.

Congratulations to your daughter, Bookstop - she's the first person I have heard of to guess the murderer! Even though I thought I'd made it reasonably obvious and had "played fair" with the clues.

So glad you liked it too.

Mary
 
I read The Falconer's Knot almost a year ago (wow, it's been longer than I thought) while waiting for my copy of Stravaganza #3 to show up. It was really good, I thought the story was well written (they all are) and I loved the characters, especially Chiara.
 

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