The Falconer's Knot
Ebook
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Overview
Silvano and Chiara are two teenagers with a difference. Silvano has been accused of a murder he did not commit. Chiara has been ousted from her family as a young woman with no marriage prospects. For these two very different reasons they are forced to seek refuge in a neighbouring convent and friary. And when they meet they are instantly aware that they are both outsiders, ill at ease with monastic life.
Then a grisly murder - followed by another, and then another - strikes fear into the close-knit community. Chiara and Silvano cling together within the terrifying spiral of murder as they, and the friends they have made, attempt to solve the deadly mystery.
This remarkably rich mystery thriller, with all the pace and action of a ’whodunnit’, is set in the incredibly atmospheric environs of a friary in 14th-century Italy. Amidst all the action of the murder mystery, the author depicts in fascinating and intricate detail the lives and tasks of the friars and nuns, whether it be crushing pigments to create paints for the fresco artists in nearby Assisi, or the daily and nightly ritual of the religious services. All the historical detail is carefully researched.
A huge cast of characters with romantic teen heroes, combined with the thriller-murder element, ensure a pacy, richly enjoyable read.
A thrilling, atmospheric murder mystery set in 14th-century Italy - a teenage Name of the Rose
Shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize
Over 6,000 copies sold in hardback
Striking new paperback cover look
’Mary Hoffman’s medieval murder mystery has all the ingredients needed to weave a satisfying web of intrigue . . . This is a pacy and highly enjoyable read . . . there is a freshness of perspective and intricacy of plot that lifts the story above the obvious or crass. The female characters and their struggles to find some autonomy beyond the confines of the roles allotted to them provide a particularly vivid thread beneath the mystery narrative ... I defy anyone to read this book and not want to visit Assisi.’
- Title: The Falconer's Knot
- Author: Mary Hoffman
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
- Print Publication Date: 2010
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 304
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781408812952, 9780747589006, 0747589003, 1408812959
- Resource ID: LLS:9781408812952
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T11:17:14Z
Mary Hoffman is an acclaimed children's writer and critic. She is the author of the bestselling picture book Amazing Grace. Her Stravaganza sequence for Bloomsbury is so popular it has 80 current stories on
Fanfiction.net. Her previous books for Bloomsbury also include: The Falconer's Knot (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award and winner of the French Prix Polar Jeunesse 2009) and Troubadour (nominated for the 2010 Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Costa Book Award). Mary has three grown-up children and lives with her husband in West Oxfordshire.
To follow Mary's musings, go to