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THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Sunday, May 13, 2007 Books Thriller charts a royal rake's progress H8 www.philly.com as he goes about the business of serving as a sort of legal advance man for the monarch and vetting petitions to be presented to Henry. Murder soon intrudes, and Shardlake's mission is further complicated when he is given the responsibility of escorting a Catholic dissenter safely to the Tower of London, where he will be tortured unspeakably before execution. The problems test both the ingenuity and conscience of a decent man in a milieu where to turn one's back is to invite the sudden stab of a knife. Shardlake's reward may be meager, but readers will find ample dividends in this trio of novels, which deserve the praise heaped on them in EES son of Matthew Shardlake, the hunchback lawyer of Dissolution and Dark Fire. Historical fiction that takes this path often trips up by putting the narrator in the implausible and often clumsy position of explaining facts and background that may be new to the reader but are patently obvious to him.

With the exception of some arcane discourse on the dynastic credentials of various rival claimants to the throne seized by Henry's father, Sansom is remarkably adept at avoiding the pitfalls of unfolding the story through one voice and perspective. It helps that Shardlake, by his physical affliction and disposition, is an outsider casting the jaded eye of a disillusioned idealist on the venality and violence of the court. There is much further disenchantment Sovereign By C.J. Sansom Viking. 582 pp.

$25.95. Reviewed by Desmond Ryan For even the most seasoned traveler, it was a nightmare of vile food, unsanitary conditions, endless waiting, and testiness from those supposedly in charge of the journey. Today, we would reflexively assume that this had to be a trip to the airport in the forlorn hope of reaching one's destination within the next week or so. But in C.J. Sansom's richly textured historical thriller Sovereign, which is set in the 1540s and in the darkening twilight of Henry VIII's grip on power, the description refers to what was loftily called a Royal Progress.

Here the monarch ventured to the farthest reaches of his realm at the head of a vast retinue to awe his subjects with displays of pomp that were hardly justified by the circumstances. And while Henry VIII, the aging and paranoid monster at the heart of Sansom's novel, made the progress with every creature comfort, his lesser courtiers and minor officials expected only the misery of trailing along in an endless cavalcade in his muddy wake with the rest of the vast horde of servants, camp followers and knaves that followed the king. Sovereign is the third installment of a series Sansom began with Dissolution and continued with Dark Fire two stark recreations of Henry's England that proclaimed the arrival of a first-rate historical novelist. If you are already tired of the sexed-up vision of the period in The Tudors, Sansom provides a warning to others. Religious persecution and political conspiracy are everywhere and trust in anyone is a dangerous assumption.

The foul-smelling, festering ulcer on the leg of the now grossly obese king is, in Sansom's melancholy vision, an emblem of the larger cancer eating into the body politic of England. Sansom makes two bold decisions for this journey. At 582 pages (including a bibliography that attests to the range and diligence of his research), the book is almost long enough to see you through most of the wait for your luggage at the US Airways terminal. But in this case, the generous length is amply sustained as much by the consistently vivid evocation of the Tudor world as by the turns of the plot. Sansom takes another risk in casting the story in the first per From the book jacket sobering antidote.

Here is a world where life is short and brutal. Crows pick at the rotting corpses of felons left to dangle from gibbets as a Desmond Ryan is a former Inquirer critic. Young Adults Family's hardships unfold into a gripping tale, ending in hope Still, if the energy Father Rose brings to his vocation revitalizes Shell's religious faith, his sweet friendship with the girl buoys the book, saving it from the unhappiness underneath, the entrenched, grinding kind of unhappiness present in so many stories of Ireland. There aren't neat or tidy endings for anyone here, but there is an upswing at the end, as the "big wheel" scoops up Shell, Jimmy, and Trix, giving them a sense of perspective and a feeling of hope for the future. And isn't that the most any of us can ask for? place the story in any one decade of the 20th century.

Instead of timeliness we get loveliness (more than a fair trade), not just in the descriptions of natural beauty but in the writing itself. The "swift pure cry" of the title is taken from Joyce's Ulysses, and the line is quoted before the novel starts: "It soared, a bird, it held its flight, a swift pure cry, soar silver orb it leaped serene, speeding, sustained. (Another nod to Joyce comes in the final paragraph, when Shell gets a view from a Ferris wheel of the whole world that includes "The living and the dead," a reference to what must be one of the most incredible final paragraphs of any story in the English language, "The Dowd's own language is clean and poetic, descriptive, and gently witty; she lets her characters make the more mordant sary task of picking up all the stones in their back field and stacking them in a pile. After their mother died he quit his job working for a local farm, went on government assistance, and began spending most days mortifying Shell by standing in the village collecting money for the poor, some of which he keeps for himself and spends on long, obliterating evenings at the pub. The only girl in school who has it worse than Shell is her friend Bridie Quinn, who's sharp-tongued and tough brazen, the teachers at my own Catholic school would have called her.

Her father abandoned the family years ago, leaving them all in a "moldering, three-room bungalow" with an outhouse instead of an indoor bathroom, and poor Bridie has to share a bed with her mother. Yup, you guessed it. We're in Ireland. And there's not just loveliness here, but love. In an innocent way, Shell falls in love with Father Rose, the 25-year-old upstart priest who has a sad smile and "a full head of hair that sprang upwards like bracken." In a different way she falls for Declan Ronan another brazen kid from her class, but one who excels in school and wants a life that's bigger than the one he can have in Coolbar.

He escapes, but not without leaving a path of destruction behind him. That's when the book takes a surprising turn, and the hardships of the Talent family unfold into a gripping and not at all predictable story. And in the way of small-town life, everyone is implicated: Bridie, Declan, Shell's increasingly absentee father, the village gossips not to mention the Church, the legal system, and their shared inability (or refusal) to help Shell when she needs it most. A Swift Pure Cry By Siobhan Dowd David Fickling Books. 320 pp.

$16.99 Reviewed by Katie Haegele Siobhan Dowd's debut novel, A Swift Pure Cry, is surprising in a few ways. For one, this elegant, literary novel hooked me with its fine writing, but also held me with a sus-penseful story that I never saw coming. It opens in church, where 15-year-old Shell Talent is thinking of her mother. Shell watched her waste away from cancer and then die, leaving Shell with her two younger siblings, Jimmy and little Trix, and a father who can't cope. He's got a bad case of religion he's just finished doing his slightly crazed Bible reading and every day he shuts the children out of the house with the odd and unneces Rural Ireland in 1984, to be exact, which, in Dowd's presentation of it, is old-fashioned in a way that will surprise most American kids.

The tiny village of Coolbar, County Cork, is religious, mostly agrarian, and quiet, surrounded by gorgeous countryside. Shell doesn't mind living there at all; she likes to see the stars at night and lambs in the fields, and to sit in the woods at the top of the village to gather her thoughts. It's also something of a surprise to find this story, which could have taken place 100 years ago or yesterday, in the YA pile, since the best-known novels in the genre are characterized by a trendiness that's more fashion magazine than fiction. If it weren't for the one mention of American soap operas and the time Shell hears the song "Smooth Operator" on the radio in the library van, it would be virtually impossible to Katie Haegele is a writer who lives in Montgomery County. Online, she lives at www.thelalatheory.com.

More book reviews are in Currents, Section C. Bridge By Frank Stewart No. 0506 New York Times Magazine Crossword Making Amends South dealer Both sides vulnerable NORTH 10 9 3 VK52 0 A732 J85 WEST 652 0 K1085 AK72 EAST 74 J974 0 QJ4 10 9 4 IHl 2 3 4 5 H6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hl3 14 15 16 1 7 1 3 Bl9 20 21 22 23 BB fcBZ 27 28 30 33 Bf 35 36 37 38 39 BB BMl 42 hri43 44 47 48 49 50 51 BB 53 BP 5556 BB58 59 60 Wsi 62 -3 64 BB1 HHH6 67 68 69 70 72 73 74 75 BB BP 78 BBlZ BHH8 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 BBB HH92 94 95 96 BB BB9899 "lob" 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 HB 108 Hl09 HlTo HHHJ SOUTH AKQ J8 AQ63 096 63 South West North 1 Pass 2 3 Pass 4 East Pass All Pass Opening lead (C) 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc. ACROSS 1 Tribe with a sun dance 6 Periods in contrast to global warming 13 Cuff 17 Rise and fall, as a ship 18 Team supporter's suction cup mounted sign 19 Regardful 20 Where smart shoppers shop? 23 Ad 24 Lodges 25 Fake-out 26 Short-order cook's aid 27 A person doing a duck walk grasps these 29 Site of Napoleon's invasion of 1798-1801 31 Place for fish and ships 32 Tell 33 me!" 34 Plight of an overcrowded orchestra? 38 Cat, at times 40 Computer file name extension 41 Camera inits. 42 Kind of sch.

43 Crew 46 Fit for dwelling By Charles M. Derber Edited by Will Shortz 51 Blushing 52 Introduction to opera? 54 Epitome of blackness 55 Oodles 57 Frustrated 58 Gaynor of "South Pacific" 59 Common origami creations 61 Sought sanctuary, old-style 63 "Inferno" 64 Lilylike plant 65 Actress Shire and others 66 Insider talk 67 Not exceeding 68 Locale of Hoosier beaches? 71 Bub 74 Leaving, slangily 76 Virus variety 77 "Essays of 78 Bow 79 now!" 81 Yes-men, maybe? 83 Bit of winter exercise? 89 Italian librettist Gaetano 90 Abbr. after many a military title 91 Match 92 Annual announcement from 13-Down 93 "Drink to me only with thine eyes" poet 94 Burmese gathering? 97 "Ciao" 98 Carolina university 1 00 Dog with a tightly curled tail 101 Geraldo rehearses his show? 105 Much-counterfeited timepiece 106 More run-down 1 07 Traction provider 108 empty stomach 109 Mugs 110 Hopper of Hollywood DOWN 1 Dish for an Italian racing champ? 2 Stimpy's TV pal 3 Most like a breeze 4 Dame Edith who was nominated for three Oscars 5 In stitches 6 tree falls 7 Stephen King's first novel 8 Last 9 "Far out!" 10 Show fixation, maybe 1 1 Stowe girl 12 Composer Prokofiev 13 See 92-Across: Abbr. 14 French Bluebeard 15 Culturalteaching facility 16 Una (old coin words) 19 Calais confidant 20 Item on a chain, usually 21 Steers clear of 22 Passage 23 Nautical rope 28 Former Irish P.M. Cosgrave 30 Quebec traffic sign 31 Stole 34 hammer (Viking symbol) 35 Show slight relief, maybe 36 Computer key 37 Kind of paper 39 Whoops 44 Basket material 45 Iowa and Missouri 47 A club, e.g.

48 Sandwich that can never be finished? 49 Be a couch potato 50 Coming" (1969 hit) 52 Tiny annoyance 53 Gouges repeatedly 56 Overall 58 Jazz's Herbie 59 Thick-bodied fish 60 Cowboy's aid 61 Send out 62 Denver's Gardens amusement park 63 Photographer Arbus 65 "Star Trek: 66 German camera 68 Canine neighbor 69 Words often applied to 93-Across 70 Hen, at times 72 Freshens 73 Cover 75 Bug 77 School named in the Public Schools Act of 1868 role 88 Lessener 93 Eponymous physicist 95 1932 skiing gold medalist Utterstrom 96 Bit of spelling? 97 King tomb 99 Lomond 102 Historic Heyerdahl craft 103 posting 104 Fooled 80 Many urban dwellers 82 Like electrical plugs 83 Hall of Fame jockey Eddie 84 Become tiresome to 85 Loser at the Battle of Chalons, A.D. 451 86 Birthplace of Aaron Burr 87 "Happy Days" "My partner had a chip on his shoulder after this deal," a club player told me. "That can indicate wood higher up," I observed. "What happened?" "I was West," my friend said, "and led the king, the ace and a low club against four spades. South ruffed with the ace of trumps and ducked a diamond, and my partner won and shifted to a trump.

"South won in his hand, led a diamond to the ace, ruffed a diamond high, led a heart to the king, and ruffed dummy's last diamond high. He drew trumps with the 10-9 and won the last two tricks with the A-Q of hearts." "And East used the chip on his shoulder to kindle an argument," I said. "I'll say. He told me if I shift to a trump at the third trick, we beat the contract. South lacks the entries for his dummy reversal and loses a heart.

I said that was too tough for me." Dummy had little trick-taking power, hence West could defend passively. He didn't even need to cash his second club trick, since it couldn't disappear. East was right that a passive defense was in order, but after West took the ace of clubs, four spades was cold. Say he shifts to a diamond at Trick Three. South ducks.

If East tries to cash the queen of clubs next, South can still reverse the dummy. If East returns a diamond, South takes the ace, ruffs a diamond, and runs all of his trumps, and East is squeezed: He can't save the queen of clubs and all four hearts. To beat four spades, West must lead any card except the ace of clubs at the second trick. Solution to Last Week's Puzzle Word Game (solution beiow) Today's Word: STUPEFIED (STOOP-ih-fide: Numbed the facilities of; stunned, as with strong emotions.) Can you find 63 or more words of four or more letters in STUPEFIED? Average mark: 40 words. Time limit: 60 minutes.

Cryptoclassic (Solution next Sunday) By J.N. Williams WIB GYVLOBEQB VH WIB LVPOE NU VYOZ WV DB CFXMNPBE NY WIB LVPOE, CYE YVW NY FOVUBW. 0 TWT A ETHER 1 A A A I TWT "bB noise viola JLii.Xii.L ioLJ LEi I llMl 0 TWT A 5 Hs i gBB note TBr" TBI I Mh EjlT A lT DlOlHlN ojs 0 DlT I Sit MT jJ(d TpBMT i AGES A FK Tj7 MING TORE lj A OB A I MBIT il? 0 SlP I T1BM MM A I Mh I Sit JAL JiV Jjjl I ill A 0 0 a TMT a Els TIBBiT I 0 Bp TMe lTm a a lTl i ill a lBa MBIT i Be a MT i T1BM atlantaBhai I a iii A I Tl CARL HI 0 i i i i i i i i i i i aijdsap sniaj pa paais sandap puaj apu pnds ajndap ajaj pjdaj a6s sap jaaj paaj yds asnjap paaj ans pads yap jnia ijns paads sajjap apnja jans pads sajjnp daap pajdsa apans ajjs isnp sap; upa pans ms adnp aasnj pad pjdnjs apis ianp asnj isad pnis dnias sanp Sj pasn adjjs jdas ajndsip isipnaj apisdn dais daas pnaj jasdn daajs paas Last Sunday's Cryptoclassic: Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost. Robert Southey.