Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I read this author's previous book and enjoyed it, but couldn't quite get on with this one and ended up not finishing it. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy!

When Alwins mother dies her last words send him to Walsingham, ostensibly on a pilgrimage but mainly to discover the truth about his father. Before the pilgrimage even begins he falls in with a band of soldiers, whose violent crime leaves him fearing for his freedom and soul. Now fleeing the memory of those crimes he proceeds with the pilgrims. He soon realises he's not the only one with things to hide. Who can he trust? His mentor since he was a child or Rosamund the attractive but unusual woman who seems to have trouble following her every step....

A little on the slow side but ultimately rewarding. Carlin continues to tell stories that some would consider to have modern themes in historical settings. It's pretty obvious from the start where it is heading but the journey is enjoyable. The mystery of this story is not the who or what but the why. An interesting and thought provoking story.

This story follows young Alwin, a poor farm boy on his quest for the truth about his father following the death of his mother.

Alwin witnesses some terrible crimes along his journey for the truth all of which will haunt him for some time. The mediaeval times were certainly not for the faint hearted. A great read which focused on some great points around gender equality and politics.

I was offered this book through netgalley due to the fact that I had read Laura Carlin’s previous book the Wicked Cometh. I did read this book but found that I wasn’t in the mood for it. What happened was that I read it through lockdown and just wasn’t vibing with the book. Determined to read it, I plunged through and carried on.

This book follows Alwin of Whittaker. After the death of his mother, he must leave behind the life that he once knew and loved. He leaves this home in search of answers about his father who he never knew. He wants answers and so goes out to seek them. He is urged by his priest to hold off on the journey until he can make preparations for them both and tells him to talk to the prioress about accommodation. He does so but along the way he falls in with a crowd of soldiers who end up raping the nuns that he had asked a favour from. Now he must carry the guilt with him on his journey. He later meets up with the group of pilgrims but finds that his guilt is too much to bear and so hides his identity from them. When he meets the girl named Rosamund, he finds that she has secrets too and they bond over the fact that they have a past that they don’t want to talk about.

Filled with wonder and the journey to realise ones self, Laura Carlin writes the most beautiful tale and spins and weaves words like a spider on her web. It is truly remarkable and how well she writes. Even though I was not in the mood for such a book, I could tell how much work she had put into it to create something worth being proud of.

3 out of 5 stars.

Very good. A really intriguing mystery plot with historical details that absolutely transport you to the medieval time period. Absolutely could not put this one down.

In my role as English Teacher, I love being able to spend time reviewing books for our school library which I use to help the students make great picks when they visit us as well as running a library junior and senior book group where we meet every week and share the books we love and talk about what makes a great read. This is certainly a book that I'd be happy to display at the front as one of my monthly 'top picks' which often transform into 'most borrowed' between students and staff. It's a great read and ties in with my ethos of wishing to assemble a diverse, modern and thought-provoking range of books that will inspire and deepen a love of reading in our students of all ages. This book answers this brief in spade! It has s fresh and original voice and asks the readers to think whilst hooking them with a compelling storyline and strong characters It is certainly a book that I've thought about a lot after finishing it and I've also considered how we could use some of its paragraphs in supporting and inspiring creative writing in the school through the writers' circle that we run. This is a book that I shall certainly recommend we purchase and look forward to hearing how much the staff and students enjoy this memorable and thought-provoking read.

I’m a bit conflicted about this novel. Laura Carlin is a natural story teller and I loved the first few chapters - atmospheric, suspenseful, deeply Gothic and melodramatic, in a good way. But then... I started to find the plot turns a little predictable, the cliffhangers a bit routine. I adored Carlin’s first novel, The Wicked Cometh, and my expectations were high with this one. Whilst I read it in a matter of days and enjoyed it, I think it probably suffered by comparison. My rating reflects the opening chapters, which were wonderful.

This is a well researched story with factual references sparkling through an historical fiction novel.

The literary prose are evocative of gender politics and the roles and responsibilities of men and women, and the burdens that brings.

the protagonist Alwin is drawn to Rosamund, an opinionated fellow pilgrim and thus ensues a love story, a mystery and political tale.

Rich in periodic detail, I thoroughly recommend this book.

Themes: pilgrimage, parental lineage, ancestry, love, relationships, mystery

When I saw that there was a new novel by Laura Carlin, I wasn’t sure whether to read it. Her first book, The Wicked Cometh, set in Victorian London, had left me with mixed feelings; I liked her writing and I liked the atmosphere she created, but I felt that the plot was too melodramatic and too predictable – too similar to other books I’d read. This one sounded quite different, though, so I decided to give it a try.

Requiem for a Knave is set in the 14th century, a much earlier time period than The Wicked Cometh, and this immediately gives it a different feel. It’s also written in past tense, rather than the present tense of the previous book, which is always a big bonus in my opinion! Our narrator is Alwin of Whittaker who, following the death of his mother, sets off on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in search of clues to the identity of his father. Village priest and family friend Father Oswald gives Alwin a letter of introduction to the prioress of Winfeld Priory to enable him to obtain accommodation for the first night of his journey, but along the way he falls in with a band of soldiers who insist on accompanying him. The scenes that follow at the priory leave Alwin traumatised and ashamed and will continue to haunt him for the rest of the novel.

After leaving Winfeld to continue on his journey, Alwin is joined by Father Oswald and several other pilgrims, but as further misfortune befalls the little group, he starts to wonder whether his new companions are as innocent as they appear to be. Deciding to place his trust in fellow pilgrim Rosamund, Alwin shares with her a terrible secret he has carried with him since his childhood and with Rosamund’s help he begins to uncover the truth about his family, his past and who he really is.

First of all, I can say that I thought this book was better than The Wicked Cometh. I have read so many historical novels with a gothic Victorian London setting that they’re all starting to feel very alike, so this book, set in medieval rural England was a refreshing change. The plot also seemed more original, although some of the revelations towards the end of the book – the motives of the villains, for example, and the reasons for some of the bad things that happen to the pilgrims throughout the story – felt too far-fetched and unlikely. As for Alwin’s secret, there were clues from the beginning that made it easy for me to guess, but perhaps the author had intended us to have our suspicions all along; the interest is in waiting to see when other characters will discover the truth and how Alwin will cope with the revelation.

However, I did have a problem with the way the novel handles one of its major themes, which is gender. It can’t be denied that women were not treated equally in medieval society and historical fiction can certainly play a part in highlighting those injustices, but I don’t think it’s realistic to do so by portraying almost every male character as an evil monster who can’t look at a woman without trying to rape her. I can’t really give examples without spoiling the story, but at times I felt I was reading a long lecture on the wickedness of men and I couldn’t really believe that 14th century women would have had discussions about gender issues in quite the same way that we do today. It’s a shame because otherwise the medieval atmosphere is very well done and the writing feels appropriate to the period, avoiding any annoyingly modern language.

On the whole, I did enjoy reading this book but if its central messages had been put across in a more subtle way I think I would have enjoyed it much more.

When his mother dies Alwin of Whitaker is told to go on pilgrimage to Walsingham to find the truth about his parentage. After witnessing a horror perpetrated by a noble he teams up with his mentor, a priest, and a band of others, he travels forward. However as the women in the party are killed in unusual circumstances Alwin doubts everything he has been told and when the truth is revealed to him then Alwin has to make changes to live his life in peace.
The plotline of this novel is seemingly very dynamic with lots going on and some quite profound character trajectories. When reading, however, I found the book slight and couldn't understand why. It's not that it is not an enjoyable read, it's just a very easy read considering everything.

A medieval mystery and love story. A intense and violent. episode at the beginning of the novel set the tone for the novel. The pace was patchy and the story did not excite me.

A pacy Medieval mystery, Requiem for a Knave uses its 14th century setting to explore modern questions of gender and identity.

Having read Carlin's previous novel, The Wicked Cometh, I was curious to give this one a go. The Wicked Cometh was a fun read, but I somehow didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to. However, I reasoned that Requiem, as a second book, might be stronger than Carlin's debut.

The story itself is fast-moving and punchy, and I ricocheted through reading it. Just before young Alwin's mother dies, she reveals that she has deceived him in two ways: firstly, his father is still alive; and secondly, she has misled him about the cause of a genital 'deformity' he's had since birth (aka a vagina). The answers to both mysteries lie in Walsingham.

At the suggestion of his priest, Alwin sets out to meet with a group of pilgrims with whom he can make the journey. However, at a priory along the way, he's witness to the brutal rape and murder of the nuns by a band of soldiers. The frequent graphic scenes of violence against women were uncomfortable to read, but I understand that that's the point of the novel - so I'm not sure it would be fair to call them 'gratuitous'.

Now Alwin must begin to confront everything about gender that he's been taught since birth. Are men naturally predisposed to hold dominion over women? Does that give men the right to do whatever they please? And all of this is made more complicated by Alwin's newfound feelings of attraction to one of his travelling companions, Rosamund, a fiery young woman who's rumoured to be a witch.

Carlin isn't the first to frame contemporary questions of gender politics in a historical setting, but the Medieval era is a less common choice and so feels fresh in the historical-feminist scene. Some of the character dialogues about gender are a bit too on-the-nose and feel like they could have come from a contemporary setting instead, but for the most part this isn't too jarring or 'preachy'.

One thing I've noticed across both titles is that Carlin is accomplished at writing in a historical style. In Requiem, she adopts a pseudo-Medieval voice which makes for perfect world- and character-building. While the writing is still very accessible to read, the playful sentence structures and archaic vocabulary give a nod to the times of The Canterbury Tales. There's a danger with this sort of writing of straying into parody or making glaring errors, but Carlin manages to avoid that successfully and has clearly researched the vernacular carefully.

While I enjoyed the story overall, and particularly found the romance between Alwin and Rosamund to be well-built and interesting, I thought that the plot did suffer from relying heavily on coincidence. Also, the reveal of the mystery at the end was sadly anticlimactic - which is the same issue I had with The Wicked Cometh. Carlin has trouble with creating villains with believable motivations, so when horrors are revealed, they rely on a flimsy explanation of 'this man is just evil'.

Requiem was a fast and entertaining read, and despite my gripes I'd recommend it - particularly if you enjoyed Carlin's last book, are a fan of Chaucer, or enjoyed the historical sections in Ali Smith's How to be Both. It's certainly on a par with The Wicked Cometh, but I was disappointed that it wasn't an improvement on it.

After reading the Wicked Cometh I was looking forward to this book and I wasn't disappointed. I loved it. An excellent read both well written and compelling.

Requiem for a Knave takes us to 14th Century Derbyshire where Alwin, a young farmer is tending to his dying mother. Her last wish, alongside an apology he does not understand, is that he go on a quest for knowledge of his father by embarking on a pilgrimage to Walsingham, after first seeking the help of the local Priest, Father Oswald.

For Alwin this will be a physical and mental journey that will help him to discover who he really is and along the way will challenge and change everything he thought he knew about himself and the world around him.

Laura Purcell writes beautifully and the medieval setting works brilliantly with the lyrical prose she adopts. Alwin is an innocent young lad, not wildly experienced in the ways of the world and Purcell makes his voice loud and clear drawing you in to the manners and mores of the time without hesitation.

I was carried along by the writing and by Alwin’s literal voyage of discovery as he unwittingly becomes the enabler of horrific violence and meets two people who will change his life. It’s not always clear to Alwin who is on his side and who may be plotting against him, as he somewhat stumbles his way towards the goal of his pilgrimage, but he is fortunate to meet Rosamund, a healer, who helps to keep him focussed.

With a nicely thought through take on gender politics in the Middle Ages, Requiem for a Knave is a gentle story with occasional flashes of extreme violence, and rather reminded me, in tone, of an Ellis Peters Cadfael story.

Verdict: A fine medieval voyage of discovery for a teenager searching for the truth of his ancestry. Well-written and researched, it is Alwin’s voice that carries the story and wraps the reader in a bygone age whilst simultaneously playing out some surprisingly modern sexual politics. I was engaged by it and enjoyed it.

I had high expectations for this book as I enjoyed The Wicked Cometh so much. This is almost as good so I was delighted to get lost in it. There’s a great sense of place created in this book, the medieval Walsingham really comes to life. This book gets pretty dark at times but never overly gruesome. I love mysteries and this is a great example of the type of book I love to unravel and get more and more lost in. I must admit, the romance aspects left me a little cold and I much preferred the historical fiction and mystery aspects. The historical details came across as well researched.

I really enjoyed The Wicked Cometh, so was looking forward to this new book - and it was even better! I loved the setting, there was a lovely Medieval, bucolic feel to it, but underscored by the malevolence of some of the major events. It was distinctly brutal in places, but in a way that wasn’t too graphic for cowards like me! The mystery aspect of the book kept me guessing throughout and I was really intrigued by the questions posed about gender. In future, I would actively seek this author out.

I truly enjoyed this dark and engrossing story that is a mix of romance and historical fiction.
I was fascinated by the great style of writing and loved the well researched historical background.
The characters are fleshed out and interesting, the storytelling is excellent and the it keeps you hooked.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The author skilfully inserts elements of surprise at various points in the story of Alwin's search for answers about the identity of his father. However, asking questions can prove dangerous and as misadventures are visited upon the small band of pilgrims travelling to Walsingham, suspicions seem to point to one of their number being involved. But which one?

Alwin is drawn to fellow pilgrim, Rosamund, a young woman who is unusually independent-minded and opinionated for a woman of her time. In fact she attracts the antagonism of others for just such reasons and the accusations of witchcraft often levelled at women with knowledge of healing. Her behaviour also causes Alwin to reflect extensively on the respective roles of men and women, what it means to be a man, and to ponder the received wisdom of the subservient position of women in society. I confess, at times, the gender politics and examples of the mistreatment of women by men verged on the heavy handed for me.

Soon Alwin discovers a growing alignment between his own purpose in making the journey and Rosamund's search for justice - or is it retribution? Their initial mistrust of each other turns into friendship and mutual respect. When the truth is finally revealed it is both more horrific and more devastating personally for Alwin than could have been imagined.

Requiem For A Knave is part historical mystery, part love story that combines a wealth of period detail with exploration of issues with more contemporary relevance such as gender identity and sexual equality. Like the author's first novel, The Wicked Cometh, there is a great sense of atmosphere with the occasional touch of the gothic.

Set in Medieval times and tells the story about a young man, Alwin Whittaker who's told by his mother on her deathbed that he has to go to Washinham. His task is to find out whom his father is. Alwin has never left home before. We follow Alwin on his journey and the obstacles that get in his way.

Part historical fiction, part love story. The author has researched this ook before writing it. The descriptions of the scenery made you feel that you had been there. Alwin seeks out Father Oswald to help him on his way. I don't want to say anymore as I don't want to spoil it for potential readers. I did enjoy the book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Laura Carlin for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.