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Company of Liars
In this extraordinary novel, Karen Maitland delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, an 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 all—propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.
Magical, heart-quickening, and raw, Company of Liars is a work of vaulting imagination from a powerful new voice in historical fiction.
(Length: 17 hours, 40 minutes)
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 all—propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.
Magical, heart-quickening, and raw, Company of Liars is a work of vaulting imagination from a powerful new voice in historical fiction.
(Length: 17 hours, 40 minutes)
576 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Karen Maitland
22 books1,232 followersKaren Maitland, who also writes as KJ Maitland, has a doctorate in psycholinguists and lives in the beautiful county of Devon, close to Dartmoor where Agatha Christie had her writing retreat and Sir Arthur Colon Doyle wrote 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', one of Karen’s favourite childhood books.
Writing as KJ Maitland, 'A Plague of Serpents,' the final historical thriller in her Jacobean quartet, is now out in pb. Set in the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Daniel Pursglove is ordered to infiltrate the 'Serpents', a desperate band of Catholics plotting the death of the King, or face his own execution. The 1st book in the series -'The Drowned City', the 2nd - 'Traitor in the Ice', and the 3rd - 'Rivers of Treason', are all published by Headline.
Her first stand alone medieval thriller was 'Company of Liars', was set at the time of the Black Death in 1348. This was followed by The Owl Killers', 'The Gallows Curse', 'Falcons of Fire and Ice', 'The Vanishing Witch', 'The Raven's Head,' 'The Plague Charmer' and 'A Gathering of Ghosts', Her medieval novels are written under the name of Karen Maitland and are published by Penguin and Headline.
Karen is also one of six historical crime writers known as the Medieval Murderers – Philip Gooden, Susannah Gregory, Michael Jecks, Bernard Knight and Ian Morson – who together write joint murder-mystery novel, including 'The Sacred Stone', 'Hill of Bones' and 'The First Murder', 'The False Virgin' and 'The Deadliest Sin' published by Simon & Schuster.
Writing as KJ Maitland, 'A Plague of Serpents,' the final historical thriller in her Jacobean quartet, is now out in pb. Set in the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Daniel Pursglove is ordered to infiltrate the 'Serpents', a desperate band of Catholics plotting the death of the King, or face his own execution. The 1st book in the series -'The Drowned City', the 2nd - 'Traitor in the Ice', and the 3rd - 'Rivers of Treason', are all published by Headline.
Her first stand alone medieval thriller was 'Company of Liars', was set at the time of the Black Death in 1348. This was followed by The Owl Killers', 'The Gallows Curse', 'Falcons of Fire and Ice', 'The Vanishing Witch', 'The Raven's Head,' 'The Plague Charmer' and 'A Gathering of Ghosts', Her medieval novels are written under the name of Karen Maitland and are published by Penguin and Headline.
Karen is also one of six historical crime writers known as the Medieval Murderers – Philip Gooden, Susannah Gregory, Michael Jecks, Bernard Knight and Ian Morson – who together write joint murder-mystery novel, including 'The Sacred Stone', 'Hill of Bones' and 'The First Murder', 'The False Virgin' and 'The Deadliest Sin' published by Simon & Schuster.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,951 reviews
September 22, 2024
5 "fascinating, provocative, emotional " stars !!
7th Favorite Read of 2017 (tie)
This is a wonderful debut novel that I have been wanting to read for a few years and finally gotten to. I was immersed from beginning to end and was such an interesting combination of genres !
Was this an adult fairy tale, fable, fantasy, historical fiction or what ? It was all of the above and so skillfully done that it made complete and utter sense as I was reading.
The author was able to tell a very dark tale in the most entertaining of ways and I wanted to steal time from chores, work and even conversation from my partner in order to continue to read this.
I was warned to not read the last page by my GR buddy Hanneke but of course I did not listen and in this instance it was ok (often in my case it is not) as the ending worked very well for me but I can understand how it would not work for others.
This book takes place during the 14th century in England where a motley group of travellers come together and wander the countryside in order to escape the plague. However, the metaphorical conditon they are trying to escape is shame. Some of them survive, others do not. As I am writing this I realize what a skilled and wise author this would need to be in order to do it in an illuminating, fascinating and entertaining wayl
I will definitely be reading more from this author as this book was AWESOME !!
I want to leave you with a quote and I think an important antidote to the internalized shame that many of us carry :
It has taken me months, years perhaps , to fathom the answer. Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth. When you no longer remember which tale of your own past is true and which is an invention, when you know that "you" are an invention, this is the time to seek out your home. Perhaps only when you have come to understand that can you finally reach home
Sit and ponder that my lovelies !!
7th Favorite Read of 2017 (tie)
This is a wonderful debut novel that I have been wanting to read for a few years and finally gotten to. I was immersed from beginning to end and was such an interesting combination of genres !
Was this an adult fairy tale, fable, fantasy, historical fiction or what ? It was all of the above and so skillfully done that it made complete and utter sense as I was reading.
The author was able to tell a very dark tale in the most entertaining of ways and I wanted to steal time from chores, work and even conversation from my partner in order to continue to read this.
I was warned to not read the last page by my GR buddy Hanneke but of course I did not listen and in this instance it was ok (often in my case it is not) as the ending worked very well for me but I can understand how it would not work for others.
This book takes place during the 14th century in England where a motley group of travellers come together and wander the countryside in order to escape the plague. However, the metaphorical conditon they are trying to escape is shame. Some of them survive, others do not. As I am writing this I realize what a skilled and wise author this would need to be in order to do it in an illuminating, fascinating and entertaining wayl
I will definitely be reading more from this author as this book was AWESOME !!
I want to leave you with a quote and I think an important antidote to the internalized shame that many of us carry :
It has taken me months, years perhaps , to fathom the answer. Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth. When you no longer remember which tale of your own past is true and which is an invention, when you know that "you" are an invention, this is the time to seek out your home. Perhaps only when you have come to understand that can you finally reach home
Sit and ponder that my lovelies !!
July 26, 2022
Five 'deceptive' stars for a truly fascinating book that cuts across multiple genres and tells a story of nine people each with a secret and a dark past that they will do anything to conceal. But what will catch up with this Company of Liars first. The plague or their own lies?
“My last lie had been the most honest, the most honourable of them all, for there is an art greater even than the creation of hope. The greatest art of all is the destruction of truth.”
The Plot
As the cloak of death shrouds England, an unlikely group of people join ‘Company’ and as they gradually grow in numbers, we learn something of their backstory or the image they want to present. For all have one thing in common, they have all lied about who they are creating a ‘Company of Liars. However, they agree to work together for mutual benefit and protection as they attempt to outrun the Black Plague, as it indiscriminately claims thousands of lives in the year 1348.
Camelot the one-eyed Peddler of relics and creator of hope, is joined by the magician Zophiel; Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller; Rodrigo and Jofre the musicians; Pleasance the midwife / healer, the strange, silent albino child with translucent white skin called Narigorm who deals with runes, and finally Osmond the painter and his pregnant wife, Adela.
In a country governed by fear and superstition, the nine are driven on by the plague and the need to get out of danger. In an effort to avoid danger they constantly move on to new places, but all the time they are haunted by the cry of the wolf which spells out certain death for one of the merry band, in the most violent and savage way. They all heard the wolf because they had all lied, and in that all nine were cursed and would face death unless someone is able to end the curse.
My Comments
The books many threads made this more challenging to review, was it a retelling of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' – yes kind off sort off. Then I settled on it being an enthralling story of mystery and intrigue inspired by Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' but darker. But what is it?
A Company of Liars is one of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. It cuts across genres, and whilst purporting to be a book of the plague, which it was not, it offers up elements of the supernatural, an historically informed book encapsulating medieval England and the black plague, a dark tale with an ever present sense of horror where it feels the nine are being haunted, and an eclectic mix of people with a story, with a secret and a curse bringing them perilously close to death as their numbers diminish.
It takes a while to get going as the nine come into the story and the initial interactions and suspicions play out. If there is one thing I didn’t like about the book, it was the concept of someone “whipping up a mist”. It felt a bit corny but thankfully in one section of the book. However, this is overshadowed by a story that is atmospheric, complex, and beautifully written. Simply brilliant.
This is one of those 5-star books I have read this year that I would recommend to anyone. The characterisation and interaction between the nine is thrilling and makes this book. And that’s no “Lie”
“My last lie had been the most honest, the most honourable of them all, for there is an art greater even than the creation of hope. The greatest art of all is the destruction of truth.”
The Plot
As the cloak of death shrouds England, an unlikely group of people join ‘Company’ and as they gradually grow in numbers, we learn something of their backstory or the image they want to present. For all have one thing in common, they have all lied about who they are creating a ‘Company of Liars. However, they agree to work together for mutual benefit and protection as they attempt to outrun the Black Plague, as it indiscriminately claims thousands of lives in the year 1348.
Camelot the one-eyed Peddler of relics and creator of hope, is joined by the magician Zophiel; Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller; Rodrigo and Jofre the musicians; Pleasance the midwife / healer, the strange, silent albino child with translucent white skin called Narigorm who deals with runes, and finally Osmond the painter and his pregnant wife, Adela.
In a country governed by fear and superstition, the nine are driven on by the plague and the need to get out of danger. In an effort to avoid danger they constantly move on to new places, but all the time they are haunted by the cry of the wolf which spells out certain death for one of the merry band, in the most violent and savage way. They all heard the wolf because they had all lied, and in that all nine were cursed and would face death unless someone is able to end the curse.
My Comments
The books many threads made this more challenging to review, was it a retelling of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' – yes kind off sort off. Then I settled on it being an enthralling story of mystery and intrigue inspired by Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' but darker. But what is it?
A Company of Liars is one of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. It cuts across genres, and whilst purporting to be a book of the plague, which it was not, it offers up elements of the supernatural, an historically informed book encapsulating medieval England and the black plague, a dark tale with an ever present sense of horror where it feels the nine are being haunted, and an eclectic mix of people with a story, with a secret and a curse bringing them perilously close to death as their numbers diminish.
It takes a while to get going as the nine come into the story and the initial interactions and suspicions play out. If there is one thing I didn’t like about the book, it was the concept of someone “whipping up a mist”. It felt a bit corny but thankfully in one section of the book. However, this is overshadowed by a story that is atmospheric, complex, and beautifully written. Simply brilliant.
This is one of those 5-star books I have read this year that I would recommend to anyone. The characterisation and interaction between the nine is thrilling and makes this book. And that’s no “Lie”
July 20, 2021
Deception
At the onset of the black plague in 1348, a group of travellers band together to seek refuge against the disease and journey northwards to find a safe location. Each wonderfully drawn member of the group has a hidden secret, and one in particular, has something more sinister to conceal. The secrets they gradually reveal are shocking and illustrate their nature and their backgrounds. Karen has a fantastic ability to capture not only the characterisation but the interaction and underlying motives within the group. As each secret is revealed, one by one the group start dying. Is the killer amongst them or are they being hunted? The final secret to be revealed is a chilling surprise and keeps you guessing right to the end.
The plot is compelling and holds you in a spell, the characters are superb, and the pace is perfect. The historic sense of time and daily living conditions are vividly brought to life. The wonderful writing creates such magnificent images of landscape, daily hardships, and a looming atmosphere of foreboding. Karen has this wonderful ability to characterise the landscape and give it its own mesmerising role in the story.
The Black Plague between 1348 and 1350 would kill over 1.5 million people, over one-third of the population of England. Amongst this great plague was set a supernatural and religious supposition. One graphic testimony can be found at St Mary's, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, where an anonymous hand has carved a harrowing inscription for the year 1349: "Wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the people alone remain."
It’s just a pity that a novel like this comes to an end, and the only thing left to do is seek out another Karen Maitland book. She is definitely the queen of the medieval historical thriller. This book is well and truly rooted in my favourites shelf.
At the onset of the black plague in 1348, a group of travellers band together to seek refuge against the disease and journey northwards to find a safe location. Each wonderfully drawn member of the group has a hidden secret, and one in particular, has something more sinister to conceal. The secrets they gradually reveal are shocking and illustrate their nature and their backgrounds. Karen has a fantastic ability to capture not only the characterisation but the interaction and underlying motives within the group. As each secret is revealed, one by one the group start dying. Is the killer amongst them or are they being hunted? The final secret to be revealed is a chilling surprise and keeps you guessing right to the end.
The plot is compelling and holds you in a spell, the characters are superb, and the pace is perfect. The historic sense of time and daily living conditions are vividly brought to life. The wonderful writing creates such magnificent images of landscape, daily hardships, and a looming atmosphere of foreboding. Karen has this wonderful ability to characterise the landscape and give it its own mesmerising role in the story.
The Black Plague between 1348 and 1350 would kill over 1.5 million people, over one-third of the population of England. Amongst this great plague was set a supernatural and religious supposition. One graphic testimony can be found at St Mary's, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, where an anonymous hand has carved a harrowing inscription for the year 1349: "Wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the people alone remain."
It’s just a pity that a novel like this comes to an end, and the only thing left to do is seek out another Karen Maitland book. She is definitely the queen of the medieval historical thriller. This book is well and truly rooted in my favourites shelf.
September 6, 2018
I read this book some years ago, however, I still remember how atmospheric this novel is. It is perfect for those of us who are interested in the Middle Ages, but not the rulers but people of lowly birth, their attitudes to religion and the role superstitions played in those days. A very good read indeed!
August 12, 2021
Una Inglaterra arrasada por la peste. Unos variopintos personajes que se unen, más por necesidad que por ganas, en un recorrido hacia el norte donde puedan dejar atrás la epidemia. Estos personajes, y el recorrido que realizan, son lo mejor de esta atractiva novela de Karen Maitland, que, aunque publicada en 2008, no hubiese conocido de no ser por alguna reseña en este medio.
Tenemos a Zophiel, supuesto mago y dueño de carromato y caballo, que transporta, entre otras lindezas, un supuesto bebé de sirena, por el que la ciudadanía paga por contemplar. Tenemos a Rodrigo y Jofre, músico y aprendiz, que vivieron tiempos mejores. Tenemos a Osmond y Adela, un matrimonio que huye del repudio de la familia (ella está embarazada). Tenemos a Pleasance, una curandera y partera, que ayuda a Adela a sobrellevar su embarazo por esas peligrosas veredas. Tenemos a Cygnus, un contador de historias que, como su nombre indica, nació con un brazo deforme… que no es tal, sino ala de cisne a medio formar. Tenemos a Camelot, nuestro personaje principal y desfigurado de cara, vendedor de reliquias más falsas que Judas, pero muy necesarias en estos tiempos convulsos de pecado y contrición. Y, por si fueran pocos, a este grupo de ocho se sumará Narigorm, una extraña chiquilla de blanca piel, que sabe interpretar las runas, y, de este modo, ayudar al grupo a elegir los mejores caminos y a eludir las peores adversidades.
Todos con sus vidas presentes y pasadas. Todos con secretos inconfesables que irán saliendo a relucir a medida que la desgracia se vaya cebando sobre ellos. Una desgracia que, aparte de la peste, conlleva la forma de hombre lobo que los persigue y los atemoriza cuando la oscuridad se cierne sobre sus cabezas.
Mezcla de novela histórica y fantástica, con sus apuntes culturales de la Inglaterra de la época. En ese aspecto, el del viaje, y el de los personajes, me ha parecido una novela extraordinaria. Pero quizás no tanto la resolución de algunas situaciones, que se me quedan por debajo de lo que yo esperaba. La ambientación también me parece soberbia. Y, por supuesto, la superstición y las creencias en mitos y supercherías están bien descritas a cada vuelta de página.
Pero no le puedo dar las cinco estrellas, mal que me pese. Como ya he dicho, por algunas resoluciones en determinadas situaciones. Pero, sobre todo, por ese final que no me termina ni de convencer ni de satisfacer. Aún así, ha sido un viaje prodigioso de lectura, huyendo de la peste, del lobo del obispo, y del frío glacial de la Inglaterra desolada. Y, si te gustan este tipo de relatos, creo que con esta novela lo vas a pasar bien.
Tenemos a Zophiel, supuesto mago y dueño de carromato y caballo, que transporta, entre otras lindezas, un supuesto bebé de sirena, por el que la ciudadanía paga por contemplar. Tenemos a Rodrigo y Jofre, músico y aprendiz, que vivieron tiempos mejores. Tenemos a Osmond y Adela, un matrimonio que huye del repudio de la familia (ella está embarazada). Tenemos a Pleasance, una curandera y partera, que ayuda a Adela a sobrellevar su embarazo por esas peligrosas veredas. Tenemos a Cygnus, un contador de historias que, como su nombre indica, nació con un brazo deforme… que no es tal, sino ala de cisne a medio formar. Tenemos a Camelot, nuestro personaje principal y desfigurado de cara, vendedor de reliquias más falsas que Judas, pero muy necesarias en estos tiempos convulsos de pecado y contrición. Y, por si fueran pocos, a este grupo de ocho se sumará Narigorm, una extraña chiquilla de blanca piel, que sabe interpretar las runas, y, de este modo, ayudar al grupo a elegir los mejores caminos y a eludir las peores adversidades.
Todos con sus vidas presentes y pasadas. Todos con secretos inconfesables que irán saliendo a relucir a medida que la desgracia se vaya cebando sobre ellos. Una desgracia que, aparte de la peste, conlleva la forma de hombre lobo que los persigue y los atemoriza cuando la oscuridad se cierne sobre sus cabezas.
Mezcla de novela histórica y fantástica, con sus apuntes culturales de la Inglaterra de la época. En ese aspecto, el del viaje, y el de los personajes, me ha parecido una novela extraordinaria. Pero quizás no tanto la resolución de algunas situaciones, que se me quedan por debajo de lo que yo esperaba. La ambientación también me parece soberbia. Y, por supuesto, la superstición y las creencias en mitos y supercherías están bien descritas a cada vuelta de página.
Pero no le puedo dar las cinco estrellas, mal que me pese. Como ya he dicho, por algunas resoluciones en determinadas situaciones. Pero, sobre todo, por ese final que no me termina ni de convencer ni de satisfacer. Aún así, ha sido un viaje prodigioso de lectura, huyendo de la peste, del lobo del obispo, y del frío glacial de la Inglaterra desolada. Y, si te gustan este tipo de relatos, creo que con esta novela lo vas a pasar bien.
October 7, 2018
Enjoyed this historical novel! A mystery tale of a band of travelers in The Middle Ages, travelling through England to escape the upcoming pestilence....
Entertaining read! The ending unexpected, at least for me.... Will definitely try more of this author.
As usual... probably more to follow. For those who like historical fiction, recommended!
And for those who don't know this book yet (many have read it here I see):
Midsummer's day 1348... On this day of ill omen, plague makes its entrance. Within weeks, swathes of Engeland will be darkened by death's shadow as towns and villages burn to the ringing of church bells. While panick and suspicion flood the land, a small band of travelers comes together to outrun the pestilence, travelling through the ravaged countryside: amongst others a scarred trader in holy relics, a conjuror, two musicians, and a deformed storyteller.. . But when one of their number is found hanging from a tree, the chilling discovery confirms that something more sinister than plague is in their midst. And as the runes warn of treachery, it appears no one is quite what they seem, least of all the child rune reader, who mercilessly compels each of her companions to tell their stories and face the consequences...
Entertaining read! The ending unexpected, at least for me.... Will definitely try more of this author.
As usual... probably more to follow. For those who like historical fiction, recommended!
And for those who don't know this book yet (many have read it here I see):
Midsummer's day 1348... On this day of ill omen, plague makes its entrance. Within weeks, swathes of Engeland will be darkened by death's shadow as towns and villages burn to the ringing of church bells. While panick and suspicion flood the land, a small band of travelers comes together to outrun the pestilence, travelling through the ravaged countryside: amongst others a scarred trader in holy relics, a conjuror, two musicians, and a deformed storyteller.. . But when one of their number is found hanging from a tree, the chilling discovery confirms that something more sinister than plague is in their midst. And as the runes warn of treachery, it appears no one is quite what they seem, least of all the child rune reader, who mercilessly compels each of her companions to tell their stories and face the consequences...
February 2, 2019
The Holy Relic Swindler’s Tale
It is I suppose comforting for some to believe that the social issues of today’s Britain are perennial, that there is a national character, perhaps, which continuously muddles through the same problems over and over. This is one explanation for Karen Maitland’s imagined world of England in the Middle Ages. The way she portrays the state of the nation - from immigration to the condition of the roads; from sexual harassment to fake news - suggests that the problems we have to deal with have a constancy that define the country.
I further suppose that without such presumed continuity, there wouldn’t be much of a market for her type of historical fiction. In order for a story set in the 14th century to be comprehensible there has to be something more than geography which connects us culturally to that distant era. So Maitland projects our fears and anxieties into the past, not unlike much of sci-fi projects them into the future. Among other things, in the latter such a literary tactic allows for some familiarity about the problems as well as creativity in imagining their solutions or their ultimate consequences.
But there is a clear difference between historical fiction and sci-fi. We already have (and are) the solutions to the problems of the past. So the genre of historical fiction can only work if it can suggest how we arrived where we are. If there’s not much sociological variation from where we started, the setting of the story is quaint but largely irrelevant, and, from a literary perspective, fraudulent, an unintentional parody. Why not set the tale in Ancient Rome? Or Victorian England? Or contemporary New York City? The allusions to things like xenophobia, commercial fraud, knife crime, child and substance abuse, and the English Summer weather could be made where and whenever. ’Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose’ would seem sufficient to get the point across.
Casting faux historical references in terms of a sort of hippie Canterbury Tale (with neither the wit nor the elegance of the original) is, therefore, of dubious merit. Dropping in archaic period terms like ‘camelot’ and ‘kirtle’ don’t do much to divert attention from the Hobbesian misery of the lives of the characters - solitary, nasty, brutish and short. These characters inhabit a land of superstitious squalor in which the principle recreations are alcoholism and GBH. Whatever secrets they might be hiding seem insignificant in light of their existential reality, which has little to do with their place in history.
It could be that I’m being unfair. Perhaps the Company of Liars is an allegory about the 21st century rather than a projection to the 14th. Could it be that we can only recognize the extent of our depravity by considering it in terms of some distant condition? If so, The book might have some merit. Otherwise it is a tedious journey to nowhere. Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, to name just one parallel story, is a far superior alternative - established firmly in a time and place with no pretensions to period color, and consequently much more honest..
It is I suppose comforting for some to believe that the social issues of today’s Britain are perennial, that there is a national character, perhaps, which continuously muddles through the same problems over and over. This is one explanation for Karen Maitland’s imagined world of England in the Middle Ages. The way she portrays the state of the nation - from immigration to the condition of the roads; from sexual harassment to fake news - suggests that the problems we have to deal with have a constancy that define the country.
I further suppose that without such presumed continuity, there wouldn’t be much of a market for her type of historical fiction. In order for a story set in the 14th century to be comprehensible there has to be something more than geography which connects us culturally to that distant era. So Maitland projects our fears and anxieties into the past, not unlike much of sci-fi projects them into the future. Among other things, in the latter such a literary tactic allows for some familiarity about the problems as well as creativity in imagining their solutions or their ultimate consequences.
But there is a clear difference between historical fiction and sci-fi. We already have (and are) the solutions to the problems of the past. So the genre of historical fiction can only work if it can suggest how we arrived where we are. If there’s not much sociological variation from where we started, the setting of the story is quaint but largely irrelevant, and, from a literary perspective, fraudulent, an unintentional parody. Why not set the tale in Ancient Rome? Or Victorian England? Or contemporary New York City? The allusions to things like xenophobia, commercial fraud, knife crime, child and substance abuse, and the English Summer weather could be made where and whenever. ’Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose’ would seem sufficient to get the point across.
Casting faux historical references in terms of a sort of hippie Canterbury Tale (with neither the wit nor the elegance of the original) is, therefore, of dubious merit. Dropping in archaic period terms like ‘camelot’ and ‘kirtle’ don’t do much to divert attention from the Hobbesian misery of the lives of the characters - solitary, nasty, brutish and short. These characters inhabit a land of superstitious squalor in which the principle recreations are alcoholism and GBH. Whatever secrets they might be hiding seem insignificant in light of their existential reality, which has little to do with their place in history.
It could be that I’m being unfair. Perhaps the Company of Liars is an allegory about the 21st century rather than a projection to the 14th. Could it be that we can only recognize the extent of our depravity by considering it in terms of some distant condition? If so, The book might have some merit. Otherwise it is a tedious journey to nowhere. Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, to name just one parallel story, is a far superior alternative - established firmly in a time and place with no pretensions to period color, and consequently much more honest..
January 7, 2019
Oh dear, I am so glad I wasn't born during the Middle Ages. Karen Maitland makes you feel like you are there, with all the superstition, filth, disease and hypocrisy of the church that defined the time. The poor suffer mightily. The company that we find ourselves with are traveling merchants of a sort, the homeless and wretched who have come together for safety against the weather, the pestilence, (plague has broken out) and vicious robbers that roam the land.
This is no Canterbury Tales with humour along with the suffering; there is nothing funny about these travelers. They are all hiding from their past, and the lies they tell are to protect themselves from society, the church or the law. If there is one criticism I would level at the book it is that after the author has made you scoff at the superstitious nonsense they believe in, she ends the tale with the supernatural.
This is no Canterbury Tales with humour along with the suffering; there is nothing funny about these travelers. They are all hiding from their past, and the lies they tell are to protect themselves from society, the church or the law. If there is one criticism I would level at the book it is that after the author has made you scoff at the superstitious nonsense they believe in, she ends the tale with the supernatural.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2024
Inglaterra, 1348.
La peste hace acto de presencia. En escasas semanas grandes regiones del país quedarán oscurecidas por la sombra de la Muerte Negra, y pueblos y aldeas arderán mientras las campanas repican con ominosos sones de tragedia. Mientras el terror y la sospecha arrasan por doquier, una pequeña banda de extraños viajeros, cada uno con su secreto a cuestas, intenta huir en medio de un país conmocionado.
El juglar veneciano Rodrigo y su inseparable aprendiz Jofre. El mago Zophiel, que dice llevar consigo el cadáver disecado de un bebé de sirena. Osmond y su mujer, la embarazada Adela, quienes han sido repudiados por su familia. La misteriosa curandera Pleasance, y Cygnus, contador de historias que nació con un brazo en forma de ala de cisne. Al frente de todos ellos se encuentra Camelot, un vendedor ambulante de reliquias falsas. Y, en la retaguardia, la misteriosa Narigorm, una niña de mirada gélida con el don de conocer el futuro a través de las piedras.
Pero cuando uno de ellos aparece ahorcado, empiezan a sospechar que hay un traidor entre el grupo y que ninguno es realmente quien dice ser. Y entre oscuros presagios, y las inquietantes historias que circulan en los pueblos sobre brujas, vampiros y hombres-lobo, los sobrevivientes de la comitiva tendrán que enfrentarse a dos amenazas mucho más terribles: la Verdad y la Muerte.
Con Comitiva de embusteros, Karen Maitland nos ofrece un retrato prodigioso de la Edad Media, una época de enfermedad y oscurantismo que también estuvo plagada de personajes tan peculiares como entrañables.
Libro leido gracias a nuestro estimado maese Labi. ¡Gracias maese!🍺
Me ha gustado mucho seguir a estos variopintos personajes. Conocerlos. Pero sobretodo lo mejor del libro son los viajes que hacemos con ellos por época y lugares. Si bien algunas resoluciones me han fallado sin estar a mi gusto por ello no le doy las 5⭐️. Lo considero un libro de lo más entretenido, historia original, histórica en la parte de aprendizaje sobre la época y muy, muy entretenido.
Me ha gustado el estilo y prosa de la autora es de lo más acertada para esta historia. Como nos va introduciendo a los personajes y la época oscura que les rodea. Es bastante ágil y se lee o yo al menos lo leí del tirón.
Lo único que flojea son determinadas resoluciones ya sea de los personajes o momentos y eventos que pasan que no me cuadran o gustan. A mi parecer los personajes son de los que dejan huella es lo más fuerte del libro junto los enormes toques históricos.
Por lo demás es un libro para dejarse llevar y querer saber más y más. Entretenimiento puro y duro.
Muy recomendable...✍️🧐🎩
La peste hace acto de presencia. En escasas semanas grandes regiones del país quedarán oscurecidas por la sombra de la Muerte Negra, y pueblos y aldeas arderán mientras las campanas repican con ominosos sones de tragedia. Mientras el terror y la sospecha arrasan por doquier, una pequeña banda de extraños viajeros, cada uno con su secreto a cuestas, intenta huir en medio de un país conmocionado.
El juglar veneciano Rodrigo y su inseparable aprendiz Jofre. El mago Zophiel, que dice llevar consigo el cadáver disecado de un bebé de sirena. Osmond y su mujer, la embarazada Adela, quienes han sido repudiados por su familia. La misteriosa curandera Pleasance, y Cygnus, contador de historias que nació con un brazo en forma de ala de cisne. Al frente de todos ellos se encuentra Camelot, un vendedor ambulante de reliquias falsas. Y, en la retaguardia, la misteriosa Narigorm, una niña de mirada gélida con el don de conocer el futuro a través de las piedras.
Pero cuando uno de ellos aparece ahorcado, empiezan a sospechar que hay un traidor entre el grupo y que ninguno es realmente quien dice ser. Y entre oscuros presagios, y las inquietantes historias que circulan en los pueblos sobre brujas, vampiros y hombres-lobo, los sobrevivientes de la comitiva tendrán que enfrentarse a dos amenazas mucho más terribles: la Verdad y la Muerte.
Con Comitiva de embusteros, Karen Maitland nos ofrece un retrato prodigioso de la Edad Media, una época de enfermedad y oscurantismo que también estuvo plagada de personajes tan peculiares como entrañables.
Libro leido gracias a nuestro estimado maese Labi. ¡Gracias maese!🍺
Me ha gustado mucho seguir a estos variopintos personajes. Conocerlos. Pero sobretodo lo mejor del libro son los viajes que hacemos con ellos por época y lugares. Si bien algunas resoluciones me han fallado sin estar a mi gusto por ello no le doy las 5⭐️. Lo considero un libro de lo más entretenido, historia original, histórica en la parte de aprendizaje sobre la época y muy, muy entretenido.
Me ha gustado el estilo y prosa de la autora es de lo más acertada para esta historia. Como nos va introduciendo a los personajes y la época oscura que les rodea. Es bastante ágil y se lee o yo al menos lo leí del tirón.
Lo único que flojea son determinadas resoluciones ya sea de los personajes o momentos y eventos que pasan que no me cuadran o gustan. A mi parecer los personajes son de los que dejan huella es lo más fuerte del libro junto los enormes toques históricos.
Por lo demás es un libro para dejarse llevar y querer saber más y más. Entretenimiento puro y duro.
Muy recomendable...✍️🧐🎩
September 27, 2019
Karen Maitland is officially my current favourite author. Company of Liars is set in 1348 with the plague spreading throughout England, causing chaos and fear. It's everyone for themselves. The story is told through the unreliable narrator Camalot. As the band of misfit travellers trudge through the country to find sanctuary and safety, each harbour a personal secret and are prepared to do anything to conceal it. The story is peppered with aspects of fairytales, myths and legends, making the travellers' journey chillingly atmospheric. Maitland also explores medieval thought that merges religious and superstitious belief for the old ways. Her extensive research is spot-on as it explores the different perceptions, understanding and presentation of truth through a historical lens.
October 7, 2021
Well, this is a pandemic novel, set in 1348 in England, the year of the Plague. I have found myself reading a bit of rather trashy historical fiction recently and have been wondering about the attraction. It may be my age I suppose, it’s certainly escapism. I think sometimes the stresses and strains of battling against injustice and working for Vulnerable Adults in what often seems like a ceaseless losing battle means that I need something in my reading diet that moves me away from it. This appears to be it! Unfortunately my critical faculties seem to wake up or at least wander back when I sit down to write a revue.
It is pretty loosely based on The Canterbury Tales and there is also a touch of the Decameron lurking in there as well. It involves a group of travellers thrown together, each with a particular secret (inevitably). There are healers, sorcerers, storytellers, musicians, ex-priests and I did begin to wonder if I was playing Dungeons and Dragons. They also appear to be being followed by a wolf (there were still wolves in England at that time), which they heard at night but never saw;
“We were just preparing to settle down for another cold night when we heard the wolf again. A wolf’s howl, however often you hear it, still sends shivers down your spine.”
The whole lot are pretty disreputable and each has a story which unfolds. The thriller element kicks in as they begin to die one by one and it all begins to feel a bit Agatha Christie.
There is also a state of the nation feel about it (possibly then and now) as Maitland brings it the plight of the Jews in fourteenth century England, being queer, xenophobia (dislike of foreigners is nothing new), religious superstition, fear of those who do not conform, incest and a well signalled twist at the end. Some of the stories are not given much depth and there is a bit of unreliable narration. The whole thing falls apart a bit at the end and I felt Maitland was unsure how to end it.
The whole thing is a bit of a mess but it had a soporific effect on me at the end of the day
It is pretty loosely based on The Canterbury Tales and there is also a touch of the Decameron lurking in there as well. It involves a group of travellers thrown together, each with a particular secret (inevitably). There are healers, sorcerers, storytellers, musicians, ex-priests and I did begin to wonder if I was playing Dungeons and Dragons. They also appear to be being followed by a wolf (there were still wolves in England at that time), which they heard at night but never saw;
“We were just preparing to settle down for another cold night when we heard the wolf again. A wolf’s howl, however often you hear it, still sends shivers down your spine.”
The whole lot are pretty disreputable and each has a story which unfolds. The thriller element kicks in as they begin to die one by one and it all begins to feel a bit Agatha Christie.
There is also a state of the nation feel about it (possibly then and now) as Maitland brings it the plight of the Jews in fourteenth century England, being queer, xenophobia (dislike of foreigners is nothing new), religious superstition, fear of those who do not conform, incest and a well signalled twist at the end. Some of the stories are not given much depth and there is a bit of unreliable narration. The whole thing falls apart a bit at the end and I felt Maitland was unsure how to end it.
The whole thing is a bit of a mess but it had a soporific effect on me at the end of the day
December 4, 2021
Read this book in 2011, and its a standalone book about ordinary people during the outbreak of the Plague.
This tale is set in the year AD 1348, and the Great Plague is ravaging throughout the land, and making people flee towards hopefully healthier and safer places to live.
A group of nine people who are trying to flee the Plague are not what or who they are seem to be, and in this time of horror and disaster all will reveal their close kept secrets.
This group will have to face superstition and mystery, and one by they will become victim to the child rune reader, who somehow compels each of her companions to tell their stories, or face the consequences.
From hanging to a tree, to the deadly confirmation that more than Plague is at stake, this group of people is held in suspense by several more sinister circumstances.
What is to follow is a most entertaining historical journey where superstition and the supernatural with play a significant part to people lives, and all this is brought to us by the author in a wonderful story of chilling horror and horrible deaths.
Highly recommended, for this is a magnificent Late Middle Ages tale, in which the unnatural and unexplainable things in life will play a captivating part in this superbly told story, and that's why I like to call this book: "A Great Company of Liars"!
This tale is set in the year AD 1348, and the Great Plague is ravaging throughout the land, and making people flee towards hopefully healthier and safer places to live.
A group of nine people who are trying to flee the Plague are not what or who they are seem to be, and in this time of horror and disaster all will reveal their close kept secrets.
This group will have to face superstition and mystery, and one by they will become victim to the child rune reader, who somehow compels each of her companions to tell their stories, or face the consequences.
From hanging to a tree, to the deadly confirmation that more than Plague is at stake, this group of people is held in suspense by several more sinister circumstances.
What is to follow is a most entertaining historical journey where superstition and the supernatural with play a significant part to people lives, and all this is brought to us by the author in a wonderful story of chilling horror and horrible deaths.
Highly recommended, for this is a magnificent Late Middle Ages tale, in which the unnatural and unexplainable things in life will play a captivating part in this superbly told story, and that's why I like to call this book: "A Great Company of Liars"!
August 9, 2014
Okay, let's start with the negative, just to get it out of the way. I had read several reviews on Goodreads complaining about the ending before I even picked up the book, so all through the last chapter I kept thinking Whew! That's not such a bad ending! I can see how it might not please everyone, but I actually kind of like it! That was quite a relief, considering I adored the book most of the way through, and it had already gone down a bit in my estimation by the final chapter. My relief lasted until the final page and then BAM, I suddenly knew exactly what those reviewers were talking about. So yes, add me to the ranks of disconsolate souls bemoaning the ending. It was formulaic and rather ugly, with a cliched side of "leave 'em hangin'!" and just, UGH. Such a let down. I found myself desperately trying to make the ending work in my head, so it wouldn't spoil the book for me. And there is at least one interpretation that "fixes" it, if Camelot can be viewed as an unreliable narrator. Which... I think one can make a fair argument for. It was after all a very superstitious era, and Camelot clearly believes many of the folk beliefs and tales. The aspect of the plot which seems to actually contain supernatural elements could be a fantasy/skewed reality he creates, as he, along with the rest of Europe, struggles to grasp the horrible reality of plague and the violence/tragedy it inspires. If viewed as manifestations of Camelot's troubled psychosis (and perhaps as metaphorical instead of literal) those aspects of the book I disliked actually add power to the story. So, I shall choose to go with that interpretation. :) (Just humor me, okay???)
ANYWAY, the ending was not enough to ruin this dark, Medieval fairytale for me. I love well written historical fiction complete with gritty historical detail and strong characters, and this book is a splendid example. Maitland has a brilliant grasp of Medieval British history, and I loved the way she wove in all the superstition and belief in/terror of the supernatural that plagued people in that era (especially as they struggled to understand and "prevent" plague). The characters are for the most part wonderfully engaging- I grew deeply attached to many of them (sucks for me ) and wanted to jump inside the book to throttle others, so I definitely think Maitland excels there. Overall, I loved it!
August 24, 2020
Set in 1348 England, nine strangers form a group and travel together to escape the spreading pestilence. The narrator, Camelot, is a seller of religious relics. He is joined by a magician, a musician, the musician’s young apprentice, a storyteller, a fortune-teller, a midwife, and an artist and his wife. The fortune teller, a peculiar child, reads runes, and she foretells of impending malevolent events. The travelers tell tales around the nighttime fire, revealing parts of the past, though not always the truth. Gradually, their secrets are discovered.
Superstitions of the era influence the journey. They believe in witches and the supernatural. They think a wolf or werewolf is following them. Dramatic tension is maintained by wondering what evils will befall the group. The narrative is driven by the sequential uncovering of secrets. The tone is eerie. The reader will feel a sense of foreboding. We know something bad is going to happen and are waiting for the axe to fall.
I do not usually enjoy scary stories, but I quite enjoyed this one. It is well-crafted. I was drawn into the storyline of each character and interested in their journey. It reminds me of a darker version of The Canterbury Tales, sans Middle English verse, which I am sure is intentional on the author’s part.
Superstitions of the era influence the journey. They believe in witches and the supernatural. They think a wolf or werewolf is following them. Dramatic tension is maintained by wondering what evils will befall the group. The narrative is driven by the sequential uncovering of secrets. The tone is eerie. The reader will feel a sense of foreboding. We know something bad is going to happen and are waiting for the axe to fall.
I do not usually enjoy scary stories, but I quite enjoyed this one. It is well-crafted. I was drawn into the storyline of each character and interested in their journey. It reminds me of a darker version of The Canterbury Tales, sans Middle English verse, which I am sure is intentional on the author’s part.
May 29, 2015
I found this book so absolutely riveting that I spent two nights up late reading it. At first I thought it was just a mesmerizing story about the Plague in 1348 but it was so much more. Nine strangers come together, all with secrets, and as they travel to avoid the Black Death, their stories slowly are told.
I don't want to spoil it for anyone but there were so many twists that I had to keep reading to find out what was coming next. A very entertaining book that was extremely well-written. I highly recommend it.
I don't want to spoil it for anyone but there were so many twists that I had to keep reading to find out what was coming next. A very entertaining book that was extremely well-written. I highly recommend it.
September 3, 2022
Mysterieus en spannend verhaal dat zich afspeelt in een wanhopige tijd. Het jaar is 1348. De pest heeft net de Engelse kust bereikt en verspreidt zich razendsnel. Het regent dagelijks al een jaar lang, de oogsten zijn weggerot. Een groep van negen reizigers probeert wanhopig de pest voor te blijven en trekt steeds verder Engeland in. Alle reizigers hebben allemaal een reden om niet de hele waarheid over hun verleden te vertellen. In veel gevallen heeft dat hun dood tot gevolg. Het verhaal lijkt op de Canterbury Tales, maar de verhalen die door de reizigers verteld worden, zijn bepaald niet vrolijk. Ik vond het boek in ieder geval wel de moeite waard door het interessante decor en personages.
June 5, 2016
1.5 stars rounded to 2
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”
Stephen King
Secrets are a part and parcel of our lives and to hide them we often take the help of lies to ensure that these secrets stay hidden and protected. This is almost everyone’s story and I honestly feel that each person is entitled to their secrets and lies. What man does not lie? It could be those small white lies said to make others happy or even the big ones, told majorly to ensure some secrets are kept safe and no damage occurs to their lives and the lives of their loved ones? Can these people honestly be blamed for those lies that are often disguised, maybe badly, as ways to help keep their loved ones safe? Can people be blamed for keeping secrets that when revealed would lead to their persecution? Human nature is tuned in such a way that it will do anything, absolutely anything, to escape their own persecution or the persecution of those they love and therefore lying in such a context doesn’t seem like a major sin to them. Or maybe they feel that they are justified in telling such lies and don’t fear the consequences that they will face because of it. As in the quote above ‘a secret stays a secret until it finds an understanding ear’.
So also with these nine people who form the main core group of this group, a company of liars as they are called, secrets are abound and lies are told aplenty. The difference being, they are persecuted because of the lies that they have told or the secrets that they have kept. Karen Maitland’s book deals with the onslaught of persecution of liars in the backdrop of the plague. The fact that each of them dies is something that is given in the blurb. How and why they die is what this book is all about. An extremely interesting premise, which when combined with the fact that it is set in the medieval times and is also called ‘a story of the plague’, made me extremely excited to read it. And read it, I did, in fact, finished the whole book in a single day, which is quite a thing as I haven’t done something like that in ages. However, I was disappointed, completely disappointed with the whole thing. The only thing which made me give it a 1.5 star rating rounded off to 2 was the fact that I loved the way the whole group came together and some of their story telling was fantastical in nature. It had a lilt of poetry and fairy tale in some places, which kind of kept my interest going together with the fact that I wanted to know what happened at the end.
Let’s first talk about what I liked in this book. The book had a fascinating array of characters, ranging from a Camelot to a magician to musicians to a healer and a rune teller and some others. Each of them had a hidden secret and each of them were lying about themselves. Moreover, it was set in the backdrop of the plague (oh this is a grouse as well, which I shall dwell upon later) that beset England during the medieval times. And that’s about it – that’s exactly what I loved about it, the premise. It truly went downhill from there and never recovered.
“Perhaps that is where our choice lies -- in determining how we will meet the inevitable end of things, and how we will greet each new beginning.”
- Elana K. Arnold, Burning
Isn’t this a fact of life? With such a motley cast, you would expect the author to create a magnum opus but unfortunately Ms. Maitland disappoints. Her characters, though with a lot of depth thanks to their secrets, are never developed beyond the fact that they reveal their true selves and then die. There is no learning curve, there is no development curve and worse there is no depth to these stories, which at times feel like they were put there just to give these characters something to say or some back history for the sake of it. While some of their stories are almost akin to fairy tales and are quite interesting, some fall flat, especially that of the magician. While the entire book is recited from the point of view of the Camelot, there is much that could have been done but hasn’t been. In fact, I felt the lack of different POVs acutely in this book. A book where there are many different characters should ideally have different POVs, which would have made it more interesting and definitely more vibrant. However, it’s lack makes the book flat and quite monotonous and often repetitive in nature.
Now to my second and perhaps the biggest grouse about this book. On the cover it is written that this is and I quote ‘a novel of the plague’. However, the plague and the medievalism forms the backdrop of the novel and not the main course. It could have been titled ‘a novel in the backdrop of the plague’ and it would have been more accurate. For the plague forms a reason for these people to band together and doesn’t affect them in the least. Of course, the author does talk about the plague raging England at that time and its effect on the populace but it is in passing. It is more to create a path for these people to move along than anything else. Neither are they shown fighting it nor do the actual people form a part of this story. Why then make it a novel of the plague? Honestly, I don’t know.
“The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity.”
Thomas Szasz
Being a novel set in the medieval times, it is often difficult not to touch upon the politics and religion and their nexus. However, here again I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Ms. Maitland does cover all these topics and more but it is again merely in passing than with any depth. We do get involved with the exigencies put by the Church on the people, the narrowness of thought during that time, the fear of the Church in the minds of the people, the sheer callousness of the bishops and the priests but what was lacking was depth. It felt like reading a news item where we learn about facts but not the thought process. In a book that is set in the medieval times and a book that is quite lengthy in its prose, I felt that there should have been more information or description rather than mere actions. The facts are so obvious that even a person not well versed in the history of those times will be able to tell you all about them. What makes a book different is how it handles those facts and how it portrays the period. Here again Ms. Maitland disappoints with her pure factual narration that is synced with the story line, making the writing dry and quite unimpressive.
Not all is bad in this book, for the suspense factor is maintained throughout. By this I don’t mean that we don’t know the murderer, in fact we do. However, the why of those murders and why does this person murder the others is kept a suspense throughout. Unfortunately though, it remains a mystery even at the end. No reason, no conclusion, nothing is provided by the author and it is left to the reader to fathom. While I don’t usually mind such narratives, this one irked me a lot. It felt as if the author took us readers for a ride, promising a lot of things but not delivering it. I felt completely let down and felt that I had actually wasted a lot of time reading this book. It was the end that kept me going through all the boring and repetitive parts, it was the hope that there would be some clarifications, but I got naught. In fact, at that point, I would have settled for a fantastical if implausible ending but I didn’t even get that. What I got was a stereotyped ending, which did nothing to endear me to this book.
I would end by saying that this book had a lot going for it but it was not followed upon. Most of the twists were something that I had already figured out, so it held no mystery for me. Neither was the writing so great that I could write reams on it. All in all, a disappointment for me. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but if you feel like taking a dip into these waters, please do so. Who knows, you might end up liking it, as tastes always differ.
PS - My initial rating was 2.5 rounded off to 3 but while writing this review I felt that I had more grouses than likes, which is why I changed it to 1.5 rounded off to 2.
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”
Stephen King
Secrets are a part and parcel of our lives and to hide them we often take the help of lies to ensure that these secrets stay hidden and protected. This is almost everyone’s story and I honestly feel that each person is entitled to their secrets and lies. What man does not lie? It could be those small white lies said to make others happy or even the big ones, told majorly to ensure some secrets are kept safe and no damage occurs to their lives and the lives of their loved ones? Can these people honestly be blamed for those lies that are often disguised, maybe badly, as ways to help keep their loved ones safe? Can people be blamed for keeping secrets that when revealed would lead to their persecution? Human nature is tuned in such a way that it will do anything, absolutely anything, to escape their own persecution or the persecution of those they love and therefore lying in such a context doesn’t seem like a major sin to them. Or maybe they feel that they are justified in telling such lies and don’t fear the consequences that they will face because of it. As in the quote above ‘a secret stays a secret until it finds an understanding ear’.
So also with these nine people who form the main core group of this group, a company of liars as they are called, secrets are abound and lies are told aplenty. The difference being, they are persecuted because of the lies that they have told or the secrets that they have kept. Karen Maitland’s book deals with the onslaught of persecution of liars in the backdrop of the plague. The fact that each of them dies is something that is given in the blurb. How and why they die is what this book is all about. An extremely interesting premise, which when combined with the fact that it is set in the medieval times and is also called ‘a story of the plague’, made me extremely excited to read it. And read it, I did, in fact, finished the whole book in a single day, which is quite a thing as I haven’t done something like that in ages. However, I was disappointed, completely disappointed with the whole thing. The only thing which made me give it a 1.5 star rating rounded off to 2 was the fact that I loved the way the whole group came together and some of their story telling was fantastical in nature. It had a lilt of poetry and fairy tale in some places, which kind of kept my interest going together with the fact that I wanted to know what happened at the end.
Let’s first talk about what I liked in this book. The book had a fascinating array of characters, ranging from a Camelot to a magician to musicians to a healer and a rune teller and some others. Each of them had a hidden secret and each of them were lying about themselves. Moreover, it was set in the backdrop of the plague (oh this is a grouse as well, which I shall dwell upon later) that beset England during the medieval times. And that’s about it – that’s exactly what I loved about it, the premise. It truly went downhill from there and never recovered.
“Perhaps that is where our choice lies -- in determining how we will meet the inevitable end of things, and how we will greet each new beginning.”
- Elana K. Arnold, Burning
Isn’t this a fact of life? With such a motley cast, you would expect the author to create a magnum opus but unfortunately Ms. Maitland disappoints. Her characters, though with a lot of depth thanks to their secrets, are never developed beyond the fact that they reveal their true selves and then die. There is no learning curve, there is no development curve and worse there is no depth to these stories, which at times feel like they were put there just to give these characters something to say or some back history for the sake of it. While some of their stories are almost akin to fairy tales and are quite interesting, some fall flat, especially that of the magician. While the entire book is recited from the point of view of the Camelot, there is much that could have been done but hasn’t been. In fact, I felt the lack of different POVs acutely in this book. A book where there are many different characters should ideally have different POVs, which would have made it more interesting and definitely more vibrant. However, it’s lack makes the book flat and quite monotonous and often repetitive in nature.
Now to my second and perhaps the biggest grouse about this book. On the cover it is written that this is and I quote ‘a novel of the plague’. However, the plague and the medievalism forms the backdrop of the novel and not the main course. It could have been titled ‘a novel in the backdrop of the plague’ and it would have been more accurate. For the plague forms a reason for these people to band together and doesn’t affect them in the least. Of course, the author does talk about the plague raging England at that time and its effect on the populace but it is in passing. It is more to create a path for these people to move along than anything else. Neither are they shown fighting it nor do the actual people form a part of this story. Why then make it a novel of the plague? Honestly, I don’t know.
“The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity.”
Thomas Szasz
Being a novel set in the medieval times, it is often difficult not to touch upon the politics and religion and their nexus. However, here again I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Ms. Maitland does cover all these topics and more but it is again merely in passing than with any depth. We do get involved with the exigencies put by the Church on the people, the narrowness of thought during that time, the fear of the Church in the minds of the people, the sheer callousness of the bishops and the priests but what was lacking was depth. It felt like reading a news item where we learn about facts but not the thought process. In a book that is set in the medieval times and a book that is quite lengthy in its prose, I felt that there should have been more information or description rather than mere actions. The facts are so obvious that even a person not well versed in the history of those times will be able to tell you all about them. What makes a book different is how it handles those facts and how it portrays the period. Here again Ms. Maitland disappoints with her pure factual narration that is synced with the story line, making the writing dry and quite unimpressive.
Not all is bad in this book, for the suspense factor is maintained throughout. By this I don’t mean that we don’t know the murderer, in fact we do. However, the why of those murders and why does this person murder the others is kept a suspense throughout. Unfortunately though, it remains a mystery even at the end. No reason, no conclusion, nothing is provided by the author and it is left to the reader to fathom. While I don’t usually mind such narratives, this one irked me a lot. It felt as if the author took us readers for a ride, promising a lot of things but not delivering it. I felt completely let down and felt that I had actually wasted a lot of time reading this book. It was the end that kept me going through all the boring and repetitive parts, it was the hope that there would be some clarifications, but I got naught. In fact, at that point, I would have settled for a fantastical if implausible ending but I didn’t even get that. What I got was a stereotyped ending, which did nothing to endear me to this book.
I would end by saying that this book had a lot going for it but it was not followed upon. Most of the twists were something that I had already figured out, so it held no mystery for me. Neither was the writing so great that I could write reams on it. All in all, a disappointment for me. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but if you feel like taking a dip into these waters, please do so. Who knows, you might end up liking it, as tastes always differ.
PS - My initial rating was 2.5 rounded off to 3 but while writing this review I felt that I had more grouses than likes, which is why I changed it to 1.5 rounded off to 2.
April 9, 2026
"More chilling are the mills which are not silent, where sails spin out of control and you can feel the vibration of the grinding stones under your feet. The ghost mills, where the stones grind and grind, but no flour trickles out. Where sails and paddles batter themselves to splinters, because there is no one left to stop them. You see sheep lying dead in the field and dogs rotting in the ditches. And then you turn, turn away quickly and take the next road, any road that will take you away from the village, for you know they have something worse than hunger in their midst."
Set in 1348, the year of the Black Death, Company of Liars follows a disparate group of travelers from a wide range of backgrounds—musicians, storytellers, swindlers, and those who claim magical abilities. Bound together by circumstance, they journey through the forests of medieval England toward the coast, hoping to find passage to Ireland and escape the advancing plague.
As the road grows more perilous, the group’s fragile unity begins to fracture. One by one, each member’s secrets come to light, adding emotional weight to an already grueling journey and revealing the hidden sins that haunt them all. Amid magic runes, concealing woods, and a beast stalking from the shadows, the fate of each traveler grows increasingly uncertain.
While the influence of Chaucer is quite evident, the prose in Maitland’s novel feels far more contemporary and easy to digest. Even as a work of historical fiction, the narrative remains largely plot-driven—the plague lingers more as a looming backdrop than as a theme deeply explored within its historical context.
In my experience, Maitland’s strength lies in her setting and world-building. Though the characters can at times feel tropey and slightly incongruent, the immersive quality of her writing, combined with the unconventional elements of a medieval thriller, creates a tense and engaging atmosphere that carries the story forward. Overall, a worthwhile reading experience 🌕🐺
3.5/5 (Because Narigorm is peak)
—
"Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth. When you no longer remember which tale of your own past is true and which is an invention, when you know that you are an invention, then is the time to seek out your home. Perhaps only when you have come to understand that can you finally reach home."
June 7, 2019
Strange how desperate people are to know the future, even if they know they cannot change it.
Besides, if you can read the future, you can read the past for they are but ends of the same thread, and I always take great care that no one should know anything of me except my present.
A Company of Liars is the story of a group of nine strangers who travel together in an effort to escape the plague that is spreading death throughout England. It is not simply a story about travelers or pestilence, however, it is also a story about darkness, superstition, secrets and guilt. Each of the travelers has a secret, and it is the interpersonal relationships and the unraveling of those secrets that keep the reader enthralled.
There are a few historical inaccuracies that spring off the page in a somewhat jarring way, and there are sensibilities expressed that would seem unlikely, if not impossible, in the 14th Century setting, but those are not enough to undo the good parts of this novel. The narrator, Camelot, is well-drawn and one easily slides into seeing the events through his eyes. It doesn’t take much to guess who the true culprit among the travelers is, but that does not spoil the fun either, because you want to know why more than who and you certainly want to know each person’s story and how they came to this place in their lives.
For me to give a book a 4 or 5-star rating, it almost always has to offer something deeper than just a good tale. This is a good tale, but I think there is also a layer beneath that which explores the purpose of lies in the lives of men and whether that withholding of the truth can ever be a good thing. What tortures these people are not really outside forces but the things they know about themselves--the things they lie about. It begs the question of whether all of us are hiding something, and whether we lie to ourselves about why we lie. So, 4-stars for leaving me with something to ponder when I go to my rest tonight. Excellent debut effort.
Besides, if you can read the future, you can read the past for they are but ends of the same thread, and I always take great care that no one should know anything of me except my present.
A Company of Liars is the story of a group of nine strangers who travel together in an effort to escape the plague that is spreading death throughout England. It is not simply a story about travelers or pestilence, however, it is also a story about darkness, superstition, secrets and guilt. Each of the travelers has a secret, and it is the interpersonal relationships and the unraveling of those secrets that keep the reader enthralled.
There are a few historical inaccuracies that spring off the page in a somewhat jarring way, and there are sensibilities expressed that would seem unlikely, if not impossible, in the 14th Century setting, but those are not enough to undo the good parts of this novel. The narrator, Camelot, is well-drawn and one easily slides into seeing the events through his eyes. It doesn’t take much to guess who the true culprit among the travelers is, but that does not spoil the fun either, because you want to know why more than who and you certainly want to know each person’s story and how they came to this place in their lives.
For me to give a book a 4 or 5-star rating, it almost always has to offer something deeper than just a good tale. This is a good tale, but I think there is also a layer beneath that which explores the purpose of lies in the lives of men and whether that withholding of the truth can ever be a good thing. What tortures these people are not really outside forces but the things they know about themselves--the things they lie about. It begs the question of whether all of us are hiding something, and whether we lie to ourselves about why we lie. So, 4-stars for leaving me with something to ponder when I go to my rest tonight. Excellent debut effort.
April 22, 2012
I picked up Company of Liars as my fifth book of the readathon, last night, and read half of it in one go. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay up, but I can definitely say this for it: it could distract me from the pain of gallstones when high doses of anti-spasmodics and opiates could not. I think how much it entertains you will depend on how much you buy into the characters: I was prepared to fall for most of them, and to pity those I didn't adore, so I got swept up in their story. It's a relatively slow-paced story, I suppose: the actual threat doesn't come into the open until almost the end.
There are clues throughout as to what is going to happen, not just what will happen next, but what will unfold throughout the rest of the story. Some of the hints are fairly large; most readers will probably guess ahead of the plot, but it was the pleasure of fitting everything together that kept my interest -- this and that I already knew, but what significance it could have...
There are criticisms in other reviews about the range of characters and how well they took each other's secrets: there's little shock and outrage at a character who is gay or characters who commit incest. I felt... it is a little anachronistic, but it also worked for me because all the characters have secrets they dare not reveal, and all of them have weaknesses laid bare to the others in their group. They need each other, and can't afford to have the group fall apart.
I can understand those who found it too slow paced, and those who felt the clues were too obvious. I was a little exasperated by the anagram: That felt clumsy. Still, I bought into the characters and I badly wanted them to do well, and I bought into untangling the mystery. I enjoyed it a lot.
There are clues throughout as to what is going to happen, not just what will happen next, but what will unfold throughout the rest of the story. Some of the hints are fairly large; most readers will probably guess ahead of the plot, but it was the pleasure of fitting everything together that kept my interest -- this and that I already knew, but what significance it could have...
There are criticisms in other reviews about the range of characters and how well they took each other's secrets: there's little shock and outrage at a character who is gay or characters who commit incest. I felt... it is a little anachronistic, but it also worked for me because all the characters have secrets they dare not reveal, and all of them have weaknesses laid bare to the others in their group. They need each other, and can't afford to have the group fall apart.
I can understand those who found it too slow paced, and those who felt the clues were too obvious. I was a little exasperated by the anagram: That felt clumsy. Still, I bought into the characters and I badly wanted them to do well, and I bought into untangling the mystery. I enjoyed it a lot.
January 18, 2016
On the surface this novel is a medieval suspense thriller. When one reads this text on the critical level it becomes a haunting allegory on the nature of death, truth, hope, religion, and love. You can read this book on the literal level and enjoy it. (Think a better written Dan Brown novel, except Ms. Maitland knows how to end a book.) However, to read this text on the surface level is to shortchange the reader. If one looks for the obvious symbolism and philosophical context, this text will stick with you long after you turn the final page.
The novel follows nine travelers running from the "Black Death" in 1348 England. The hard nature of life in those times is clearly drawn by Maitland and sticks with the reader. Hunger and death are accepted parts of everyday life. These characters don't complain, they deal. The difference to how we act today is staggering.
Through her wonderfully drawn characters Maitland explores the power of lies and how we use them to construct our reality. The text can lead its readers to endless debates about the power and need for lies in all of our lives.
Although the villain of the piece was obvious to me, the ambiguity of what the villain represents is still not secure in my mind. I don't think Maitland wants it to be. Is the villain a symbol for death, for the destructiveness of lies, or of holy judgment? All are perfectly possible.
(The preceding paragraph makes much more sense once you have read the book. I don't want to spoil anything!)
The narrator of this text (Camelot) is a wonderful voice to carry us through the proceedings and creates a sympathetic prism from which to view the other characters, all of whom have unlikable traits, but most of whom I was able to feel some empathy with.
The only drawbacks to the text are some small historical errors, and the fact that occasionally some of the characters seem to have 21st century values in 14th century England. These few moments jar the reader out of the world of the novel, and this detracts from the text. The character of Rodrigo is the character who most suffers from Maitland inserting her thinly veiled views on homosexuality and the Christian Church into the text. This hurts the novel.
Still, I greatly enjoyed this text, and I did not see the ending coming. Yet, the ending really does work, even if at first it seems outlandish.
The past does indeed creep up on us all.
The novel follows nine travelers running from the "Black Death" in 1348 England. The hard nature of life in those times is clearly drawn by Maitland and sticks with the reader. Hunger and death are accepted parts of everyday life. These characters don't complain, they deal. The difference to how we act today is staggering.
Through her wonderfully drawn characters Maitland explores the power of lies and how we use them to construct our reality. The text can lead its readers to endless debates about the power and need for lies in all of our lives.
Although the villain of the piece was obvious to me, the ambiguity of what the villain represents is still not secure in my mind. I don't think Maitland wants it to be. Is the villain a symbol for death, for the destructiveness of lies, or of holy judgment? All are perfectly possible.
(The preceding paragraph makes much more sense once you have read the book. I don't want to spoil anything!)
The narrator of this text (Camelot) is a wonderful voice to carry us through the proceedings and creates a sympathetic prism from which to view the other characters, all of whom have unlikable traits, but most of whom I was able to feel some empathy with.
The only drawbacks to the text are some small historical errors, and the fact that occasionally some of the characters seem to have 21st century values in 14th century England. These few moments jar the reader out of the world of the novel, and this detracts from the text. The character of Rodrigo is the character who most suffers from Maitland inserting her thinly veiled views on homosexuality and the Christian Church into the text. This hurts the novel.
Still, I greatly enjoyed this text, and I did not see the ending coming. Yet, the ending really does work, even if at first it seems outlandish.
The past does indeed creep up on us all.
July 24, 2017
This is a LLLLLOOOONG book. It took me ages to read it. But there was never a time when my interest plopped or when the base 9 characters who make the "company" didn't leave me wanting more. Each and every one of those 9 was so finely framed and every line of their emotions, core desires, acting out or vocal habits - all those aspects that are covered by the term "personality"- they were THERE. Karen Maitland has a gift for giving us their onus and their spirit.
This is a book I could react to or describe for 50 paragraphs. But I will not.
Suffice to say that the plague sets the tone. The villages and the English countryside are stench real. And the outcomes, despite the level of the tales told by the company, never seemed to be one of any hope or optimism. Not by this reader.
The white haired mite? From the very first I was repelled. Child NOT!
Anyway, it's tales in a tale. It has some good guys. It has tons of mutilation. Human and animal. It is tooth and claw survival. But it is also the gifts of human mind in the worst of times which hold nothing else but horrendous bleakness and suffering.
Gird your loins for this one though. It is LONG!
I almost subtracted another star for the ideology that Maitland sneaks within some of her chapter headings and paragraph length quotes. Oh, they are definitely quotable. But I will put none of them here. Because some of them are more than incorrect to my life's opinion, and they simply don't come from that plague century either.
Lastly, I have to add this. The ending disappointed me. It was rather a cop out or else she is going to do a sequel. I'm sure the second is a good guess.
This is a book I could react to or describe for 50 paragraphs. But I will not.
Suffice to say that the plague sets the tone. The villages and the English countryside are stench real. And the outcomes, despite the level of the tales told by the company, never seemed to be one of any hope or optimism. Not by this reader.
The white haired mite? From the very first I was repelled. Child NOT!
Anyway, it's tales in a tale. It has some good guys. It has tons of mutilation. Human and animal. It is tooth and claw survival. But it is also the gifts of human mind in the worst of times which hold nothing else but horrendous bleakness and suffering.
Gird your loins for this one though. It is LONG!
I almost subtracted another star for the ideology that Maitland sneaks within some of her chapter headings and paragraph length quotes. Oh, they are definitely quotable. But I will put none of them here. Because some of them are more than incorrect to my life's opinion, and they simply don't come from that plague century either.
Lastly, I have to add this. The ending disappointed me. It was rather a cop out or else she is going to do a sequel. I'm sure the second is a good guess.
July 8, 2008
I kept envisioning Narigorm as one of the kids from Children of the Corn.
September 17, 2022
It's an engaging book about 9 travellers in the backdrop of the plague (we don't see much of the plague here, though). All of them have secrets and tensions, and there are murders and a bit of mystical stuff.
To me it didn't have much 'historical' wibe, I saw this narrative as some kind of RPG in a Medieval setting with a hint of "mafia" (you know, the party game). When you look at it this way, it is actually very compelling and well written and the ending might not bother you that much.
The author knows Middle Ages well, there are references to real places and customs, also, her settings are usually shabby and gritty, which adds to the atmosphere.
I have to say that I liked the book in general, so sorry in advance for the thoughts about historical fiction that keep bothering me from time to time. I wanted to get them in the writing, and even thought the critique is partly inspired by this book, I mean it more in general.
So I have no idea what people in Middle ages were like. Sure, they weren't completely alien to us. But there must have been some profound differences in the worldview, right?
And the characters in this book felt just like XXI century people - and probably that's one of the reasons they seemed so likeable: you can identify with them!
I'm not saying all Medieval people should be depicted as absolute brutes, but in this book there is one particular character (out of 9) who is openly sexist, homophobic and antisemitic, and he is the one depicted as a terribly bad person in general, while most of the others seem pretty open-minded even by today's standards. Sure, we can imagine that there's a very specific set of characters, not representative of the whole population, but then, I don't know, maybe they could meet some of the population? I mean, the majority of my parents' generation are (sadly) pretty sexist and homophobic, but they're not all mustache-twirling, throat-slashing movie villains! For God's sake, my own grandmother thinks that red-haired children are born evil and she is literate and watches TV!
Sorry for the rant, this is probably not about this book, but about historical fiction in general. We want characters to be like us in some ways and to have similar values, but then the mindset of the period gets a bit confused.
But again - if you think about it as a Middle-ages inspired fantasy book, or, as I said "RPG+Mafia" kind of book, it's great and open-minded modern characters don't seem out of place.
To me it didn't have much 'historical' wibe, I saw this narrative as some kind of RPG in a Medieval setting with a hint of "mafia" (you know, the party game). When you look at it this way, it is actually very compelling and well written and the ending might not bother you that much.
The author knows Middle Ages well, there are references to real places and customs, also, her settings are usually shabby and gritty, which adds to the atmosphere.
I have to say that I liked the book in general, so sorry in advance for the thoughts about historical fiction that keep bothering me from time to time. I wanted to get them in the writing, and even thought the critique is partly inspired by this book, I mean it more in general.
So I have no idea what people in Middle ages were like. Sure, they weren't completely alien to us. But there must have been some profound differences in the worldview, right?
And the characters in this book felt just like XXI century people - and probably that's one of the reasons they seemed so likeable: you can identify with them!
I'm not saying all Medieval people should be depicted as absolute brutes, but in this book there is one particular character (out of 9) who is openly sexist, homophobic and antisemitic, and he is the one depicted as a terribly bad person in general, while most of the others seem pretty open-minded even by today's standards. Sure, we can imagine that there's a very specific set of characters, not representative of the whole population, but then, I don't know, maybe they could meet some of the population? I mean, the majority of my parents' generation are (sadly) pretty sexist and homophobic, but they're not all mustache-twirling, throat-slashing movie villains! For God's sake, my own grandmother thinks that red-haired children are born evil and she is literate and watches TV!
Sorry for the rant, this is probably not about this book, but about historical fiction in general. We want characters to be like us in some ways and to have similar values, but then the mindset of the period gets a bit confused.
But again - if you think about it as a Middle-ages inspired fantasy book, or, as I said "RPG+Mafia" kind of book, it's great and open-minded modern characters don't seem out of place.
December 22, 2008
There's not a better way to end the year of great reads in 2008 than to end it with Karen Maitland's first book, Company of Liars. This book has everything: love, death, friendship, witchcraft, deception...it's a little historical fiction mixed with a little fantasy rolled in to one yummy nugget of a novel.
The plot was excellent, the storytelling was just amazing and the characters are ones you are not soon to forget. This is one of those that stay with you a while. I find myself missing Camelot the most.
My favorite quote: "Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth". - Camelot
I recommend Company of Liars to anyone who appreciates good storytelling.
Amy Says: 5 / 5
Karen Maitland's new book, The Owl-Killers is due out in the UK on March 26, 2009.
The plot was excellent, the storytelling was just amazing and the characters are ones you are not soon to forget. This is one of those that stay with you a while. I find myself missing Camelot the most.
My favorite quote: "Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth". - Camelot
I recommend Company of Liars to anyone who appreciates good storytelling.
Amy Says: 5 / 5
Karen Maitland's new book, The Owl-Killers is due out in the UK on March 26, 2009.
March 18, 2009
I have so many wishes. I wish I’d paid less attention to the “stunning reinterpretation of the Canterbury Tales!” part of the book jacket and noticed that all the blurbs were from people who write scary books. If you are like me – for whatever reason, I have read A Distant Mirror yet cannot sit through even the most banal mystery book without crapping my pants – then this is not for you. I wish I had the foresight to realize that even though I was rolling my eyes with every other page, I would get completely engrossed in the (terrifying) last few chapters and barely escape before the pants-crapping could begin. But most of all I wish that Ms Maitland – who obviously put a lot of effort into researching this book and knows her 1348 – had ditched the (oddly, incompletely selective) glossary and spent more time on the actual prose. Why, why, why, as someone writing in 2008, would you make your beloved characters spout chestnuts like “when the lamb lies with the ewe, it is like mother coupling with child” when they are barely developed enough to serve your many, ponderous, and drudgingly reiterated themes (hint: liars!), but not enough to make them behave as actual humans who might have once lived? I guess what I’m saying is, I wish it was more like the Canterbury Tales.
July 21, 2014
Imagine yourself on a cross-country road trip picking up hitch-hikers at various stops. This adventure would involve danger, suspense, fear, and maybe even growth (emotionally). Adapt this to the 14th century with wanderers on foot attempting to escape the pestilence and you have Karen Maitland’s “Company of Liars”.
Maitland’s novel is a juicy concoction of a medieval historical fiction novel mixed with spiritualism, magic, and mystery dumped into a pot of a fairy tale/fable core served to adults versus the Disney crowd (fear not: it is not a fantasy novel and more on the historical fiction end). “Company of Liars” transports the reader to a dark, rainy, medieval forest on foot with the many characters of the story despite if the sun is shining outside your own window. One can almost hear the thunder clap. “Company of Liars” has a simple plot (various travelers come together by twists of fate passing through England); and yet the novel is gripping and quite entertaining with strong visuals and emotional threads.
“Company of Liars” features a variety of characters (Camelot, Zophiel, Rodrigo, Jofre, Pleasance, Narigorm, Osmond, Adela, etc); each with his/her own personality and quirks. The characters feel real and accessible both in a medieval and modern sense. Maitland retains a level of history but with a readable prose and interpretation.
Undeniably, “Company of Liars” has a fairy tale foundation with recognizable elements (trolls, witches, wolves) but on an adult level (for example: robbers living under bridges that collect tolls --- clear a troll). Again though, don’t expect a fantasy novel as “Company of Liars” is certainly not that; but there are subtle hints of childhood tales from the dark side.
Despite some of these familiar undertones; Maitland’s text is not predictable or overly foreshadowed. Therein lays a healthy amount of drama with the need to know what happens next. However, there are some much too dramatized and unbelievable moments. These aren’t too excessive but when they are apparent, they sadly take a bit away from the story.
A major issue with “Company of Liars” is the unnatural ease with which the characters accept each other and their mysteries. Yes, there are arguments and disagreements but overall, the loyalties of the strangers to each other are a bit difficult to digest. On the other hand, this adds to the foggy, mysterious allure of “Company of Liars”.
Although minor, there are some errors with the text such as a character leaving the scene and then is said to have spoken but it was clearly meant to be another character. I am not sure if that made sense, but the point is that there are some errors which the editor appears to have missed.
Maitland’s strength of presenting the facts of medieval life in a subtle manner is quite evident in the novel. Readers learn about the time period in a natural and amusing way. Maitland obviously conducted research for “Company of Liars” instead of taking a pure fictional route.
Unfortunately, “Company of Liars” becomes tedious as the story progresses with the plot being repetitive. This is the premise of the tale and therefore must be accepted but readers searching for a more detailed and multidimensional narrative may find themselves to be disappointed.
The final chapters of “Company of Liars” are weak and a bit too far-fetched like a bad horror movie. This picks up again in the last chapter which reverts back to the fairy tale form and dives into the depths of the plot’s morals. However, this then again nose dives – big time—with the concluding lines which will literally have the reader let out a groan accompanied by a, “Come one!” to say the least. Basically, the ending is a let down and takes away from the novel drastically.
Although the conclusion may be unsavory; Maitland’s after word describing the historical merits and liberties of her novel plus a glossary of terms is well-received and notable.
“Company of Liars” is a unique fairy tale-esque novel which will satisfy both HF and medieval mystery readers (except for perhaps the ending). Although Maitland’s piece isn’t perfect, the story is compelling and certainly sweeps the reader away as all good books should do. “Company of Liars” is strongly recommended and much enjoyed.
Maitland’s novel is a juicy concoction of a medieval historical fiction novel mixed with spiritualism, magic, and mystery dumped into a pot of a fairy tale/fable core served to adults versus the Disney crowd (fear not: it is not a fantasy novel and more on the historical fiction end). “Company of Liars” transports the reader to a dark, rainy, medieval forest on foot with the many characters of the story despite if the sun is shining outside your own window. One can almost hear the thunder clap. “Company of Liars” has a simple plot (various travelers come together by twists of fate passing through England); and yet the novel is gripping and quite entertaining with strong visuals and emotional threads.
“Company of Liars” features a variety of characters (Camelot, Zophiel, Rodrigo, Jofre, Pleasance, Narigorm, Osmond, Adela, etc); each with his/her own personality and quirks. The characters feel real and accessible both in a medieval and modern sense. Maitland retains a level of history but with a readable prose and interpretation.
Undeniably, “Company of Liars” has a fairy tale foundation with recognizable elements (trolls, witches, wolves) but on an adult level (for example: robbers living under bridges that collect tolls --- clear a troll). Again though, don’t expect a fantasy novel as “Company of Liars” is certainly not that; but there are subtle hints of childhood tales from the dark side.
Despite some of these familiar undertones; Maitland’s text is not predictable or overly foreshadowed. Therein lays a healthy amount of drama with the need to know what happens next. However, there are some much too dramatized and unbelievable moments. These aren’t too excessive but when they are apparent, they sadly take a bit away from the story.
A major issue with “Company of Liars” is the unnatural ease with which the characters accept each other and their mysteries. Yes, there are arguments and disagreements but overall, the loyalties of the strangers to each other are a bit difficult to digest. On the other hand, this adds to the foggy, mysterious allure of “Company of Liars”.
Although minor, there are some errors with the text such as a character leaving the scene and then is said to have spoken but it was clearly meant to be another character. I am not sure if that made sense, but the point is that there are some errors which the editor appears to have missed.
Maitland’s strength of presenting the facts of medieval life in a subtle manner is quite evident in the novel. Readers learn about the time period in a natural and amusing way. Maitland obviously conducted research for “Company of Liars” instead of taking a pure fictional route.
Unfortunately, “Company of Liars” becomes tedious as the story progresses with the plot being repetitive. This is the premise of the tale and therefore must be accepted but readers searching for a more detailed and multidimensional narrative may find themselves to be disappointed.
The final chapters of “Company of Liars” are weak and a bit too far-fetched like a bad horror movie. This picks up again in the last chapter which reverts back to the fairy tale form and dives into the depths of the plot’s morals. However, this then again nose dives – big time—with the concluding lines which will literally have the reader let out a groan accompanied by a, “Come one!” to say the least. Basically, the ending is a let down and takes away from the novel drastically.
Although the conclusion may be unsavory; Maitland’s after word describing the historical merits and liberties of her novel plus a glossary of terms is well-received and notable.
“Company of Liars” is a unique fairy tale-esque novel which will satisfy both HF and medieval mystery readers (except for perhaps the ending). Although Maitland’s piece isn’t perfect, the story is compelling and certainly sweeps the reader away as all good books should do. “Company of Liars” is strongly recommended and much enjoyed.
July 3, 2015
Camelot decides to travel with two musicians, a magician, a painter and his wife, a swan-boy storyteller, and a soothsayer as they travel away from the pestilence a.k.a. "Black Plague" as it ravages and destroys everything in its path. Something evil is following them too. As it begins to kill them off one by one, can they make it to their destination safely even though they are a company of liars? Read on and find out for yourself.
This was a pretty good historical horror mystery novel. I also liked it how it was a unique version of the Canterbury tales too. If you like these types of stories that are set in the dark ages, definitely check it out for yourself. This is available at your local library and wherever books are sold.
This was a pretty good historical horror mystery novel. I also liked it how it was a unique version of the Canterbury tales too. If you like these types of stories that are set in the dark ages, definitely check it out for yourself. This is available at your local library and wherever books are sold.
August 14, 2025
5/5
“Strange, how in the end, it is only our scars which distinguish us.”
Incredibly good, wildly imaginative storytelling right here! This novel is superb. It’s among the best books I’ve read all year, if not THE best. It’s claiming a spot on my favorites shelf for sure. 👏🏽 👏🏽 👏🏽
“I killed him because he was a priest, because it is priests and pardoners and their kind who destroy the young and the beautiful, the innocent and the helpless. They use His name to torment those they should care for. They make them ashamed of what is beautiful. They make them despise their nature and their own bodies.”
“It is likely in his youth he had taken comely young men as lovers before climbing into his own marriage bed. With the virtue of highborn maids guarded like jewels, where else is a young lord to take his pleasure, except among beautiful young men, or pox-ridden girls.”
“But are the flames of a fire made less painful by the knowledge that others are burning with you?”
“Strange, how in the end, it is only our scars which distinguish us.”
Incredibly good, wildly imaginative storytelling right here! This novel is superb. It’s among the best books I’ve read all year, if not THE best. It’s claiming a spot on my favorites shelf for sure. 👏🏽 👏🏽 👏🏽
“I killed him because he was a priest, because it is priests and pardoners and their kind who destroy the young and the beautiful, the innocent and the helpless. They use His name to torment those they should care for. They make them ashamed of what is beautiful. They make them despise their nature and their own bodies.”
“It is likely in his youth he had taken comely young men as lovers before climbing into his own marriage bed. With the virtue of highborn maids guarded like jewels, where else is a young lord to take his pleasure, except among beautiful young men, or pox-ridden girls.”
“But are the flames of a fire made less painful by the knowledge that others are burning with you?”
November 6, 2008
COMPANY OF LIARS (Hist. Myst-Camelot-England-1348) – VG+
Maitland, Karen – Standalone
Penguin/Michael Joseph, 2008, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9780718153229
First Sentence: ‘So that’s settled then, we bury her alive in the iron bridle. That’ll keep her tongue still.’
The plague has come to England and nine people have joined together in an attempt to outrun it and find safety. A very disparate group it is: a scarred trader of holy relics, a magician, a musician and his teacher, a storyteller with a deformity, a pregnant couple, a healer and a white-haired girl who reads runes. As they travel, they share stories, face danger and die--one-by-one.
This was a wonderful, unusual, engrossing, compelling book that was so well written, I couldn’t put it down. It has an intriguing cast of characters, about each of whom you learn through the story and through the stories they tell. Each has a secret that is revealed through the story. The narrator, Camelot the relic trader, has a wonderful voice and is the steady core of the group. I did like that the books characters aren’t the titled or wealthy, but neither are they farmers or peasants, but travelers without a constant base. The distinctive roles provide a real richness and tension to the story. The suspense is very well done. With each death the tension rises. But don’t expect this to be your usual murder mystery. It’s a story about secrets and lies, and we’re dealing with the Middle Ages here.
The sense of time, place and history created by Maitland is so much a part of the story. This was a brutal, ugly time in which to live with the elements so much a part of daily life. It was also a time of fear, superstition and bigotry. In reading the story, at the culmination of our 2008 Presidential election, I realized that not a lot has changed in almost 700 years, although our living conditions are much better and one certainly wouldn’t wanted to live back then. The history is well researched and well presented, including a map, historical notes and a glossary. The suspense is very well done all the way to the last sentence. With each death the tension rises. But don’t expect this to be your usual murder mystery. It’s a story about secrets and lies, and we’re dealing with the Middle Ages here.
Had it not had a prologue which set the mood but had not direct relationship to the story and had it not included portents, which I despise, I would have given it an “Excellent” rating. Don’t be put off by the size of the book. It was an absolutely great read and I’m off to find out what else Ms. Maitland has written.
Maitland, Karen – Standalone
Penguin/Michael Joseph, 2008, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9780718153229
First Sentence: ‘So that’s settled then, we bury her alive in the iron bridle. That’ll keep her tongue still.’
The plague has come to England and nine people have joined together in an attempt to outrun it and find safety. A very disparate group it is: a scarred trader of holy relics, a magician, a musician and his teacher, a storyteller with a deformity, a pregnant couple, a healer and a white-haired girl who reads runes. As they travel, they share stories, face danger and die--one-by-one.
This was a wonderful, unusual, engrossing, compelling book that was so well written, I couldn’t put it down. It has an intriguing cast of characters, about each of whom you learn through the story and through the stories they tell. Each has a secret that is revealed through the story. The narrator, Camelot the relic trader, has a wonderful voice and is the steady core of the group. I did like that the books characters aren’t the titled or wealthy, but neither are they farmers or peasants, but travelers without a constant base. The distinctive roles provide a real richness and tension to the story. The suspense is very well done. With each death the tension rises. But don’t expect this to be your usual murder mystery. It’s a story about secrets and lies, and we’re dealing with the Middle Ages here.
The sense of time, place and history created by Maitland is so much a part of the story. This was a brutal, ugly time in which to live with the elements so much a part of daily life. It was also a time of fear, superstition and bigotry. In reading the story, at the culmination of our 2008 Presidential election, I realized that not a lot has changed in almost 700 years, although our living conditions are much better and one certainly wouldn’t wanted to live back then. The history is well researched and well presented, including a map, historical notes and a glossary. The suspense is very well done all the way to the last sentence. With each death the tension rises. But don’t expect this to be your usual murder mystery. It’s a story about secrets and lies, and we’re dealing with the Middle Ages here.
Had it not had a prologue which set the mood but had not direct relationship to the story and had it not included portents, which I despise, I would have given it an “Excellent” rating. Don’t be put off by the size of the book. It was an absolutely great read and I’m off to find out what else Ms. Maitland has written.
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