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The Scarlet Cloak
The Scarlet Cloak
Nov 27, 2025 9:34 PM

Author:Jean Plaidy

The Scarlet Cloak

A vivid novel of Spain, England and France during the tumultuous years of the Inquisition.

With fanatical Philip II on the Spanish throne and the spectre of his Inquisition hovering over Europe, these are dangerous and bloody times in which to live. As His Most Catholic Majesty turns his eyes towards the heretical English, two brothers from sleepy Andalusia suddenly find themselves caught in a perilous web of intrigue.

In the fight against tyranny, Blasco and Domingo will have to draw upon every ounce of courage and ingenuity they possess just to keep themselves, and the protestant women they love, from danger ...

Reviews

One of the many pleasures of Mr Kadare's writing is his supremely light touch

—— New York Times

The themes are so sinister, the prose so genial. Post-communist disillusion and southern playfulness are blended here with such skill and subtlety that one almost fails to register Kadare's shocking originality

—— Independent on Sunday

One of Europe's great writers

—— Los Angeles Times

He has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare is an original voice, universal, yet deeply rooted in his own soul

—— Independent on Sunday

Knife-sharp satire...originality shines through

—— The Times

Anyone still wondering why Kadare won the inaugural Man Booker International Prize for literature in 2005 will be enlightened by this tragicomic gem

—— Daily Telegraph

Outstanding

—— Vanity Fair

Jean Plaidy conveys the texture of various patches of the past with such rich complexity

—— Guardian

Redemption Falls is trauma incarnate, but its effect is both compassionate and luminous

—— TLS

Books of this quality demand to be reread to reveal more of their complexities and layers of meaning. Redemption Falls would reward this on the level of its rich textures of language alone

—— Sunday Herald

One of the author's most affecting, honest and brilliant works. It is a searingly well written piece by a ridiculously underrated novelist

—— Sunday Telegraph

Entertaining... Jacobson's prose is incisive and off-kilter, abrasive and often hilarious

—— The Times

Felix Quinn, the narrator of the book...explains it beautifully - and this is a very good novel... Feeling unsafe makes him feel alive. And loss, of course, is the wellspring of good storytelling

—— Evening Standard

The Act of Love is an ambitious and at times extremely uncomfortable novel

—— The Telegraph

It is an almost frighteningly brilliant achievement. Why did the Booker judges not recognise it?

—— The Guardian

This is a very good novel

—— Scotsman

Jacobson's 10th novel is a moving, thought-provoking and darkly witty story of desire and love

—— Irish Times

Trollope explores, with infinite delicacy, the strands that make a family

—— Daily Express

An absorbing contemporary novel from one of our most perceptive writers

—— You Magazine

Trollope has created a fount of bitchy tension which she manipulates with great skill

—— Evening Standard
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