Company of Liars A Novel

In this extraordinary novel, Karen Maitland delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer's Canterbury Talesan ingenious alchemy of history, mystery, and powerful human drama. The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them. Each member of this motley company has a story to tell. From Camelot, the relic-seller who will become the group's leader, to Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller . . . from the strange, silent child called Narigorm to a painter and his pregnant wife, each has a secret. None is what they seem. And one among them conceals the darkest secret of allpropelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming. Magical, heart-quickening, and raw,Company of Liarsis a work of vaulting imagination from a powerful new voice in historical fiction. From the Hardcover edition.

Karen Maitland has a doctorate in psycholinguistics. She traveled and worked in many parts of the world, from the Arctic Circle to Africa, before finally settling in the medieval city of Lincoln in England. Her British debut novel, The White Room, was short-listed for the Authors’ Club of Great Britain Best First Novel Award. She is at work on her next novel, The Owl Killers.


From the Hardcover edition.