Crow Court

Set largely in 1840s Dorset, Charman’s beautifully constructed narrative charts the long-reaching effects that ripple from an act of violence at the heart of a community.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER 2022

LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2021

Spring, 1840. In the Dorset market town of Wimborne Minster, a young choirboy drowns himself. Soon after, the choirmaster-a belligerent man with a vicious reputation-is found murdered, in a discovery tainted as much by relief as it is by suspicion. The gaze of the magistrates falls on four local men, whose decisions will reverberate through the community for years to come.

So begins the chronicle of Crow Court, unravelling over fourteen delicately interwoven episodes, the town of Wimborne their backdrop: a young gentleman and his groom run off to join the army; a sleepwalking cordwainer wakes on his wife's grave; desperate farmhands emigrate. We meet the composer with writer's block; the smuggler; a troupe of actors down from London; and old Art Pugh, whose impoverished life has made him hard to amuse.

Meanwhile, justice waits...

'Inventive, original and deeply moving. There is a warmth and humanity, an acceptance of the vagaries and challenges of life' Alice Jolly

'Clever, elegantly constructed, utterly convincing' Daily Mail

'As gripping as Hilary Mantel and as convincing as Sarah Perry . . . debut novels shouldn't be this perfectly formed' Ben Myers

'Clever, page-turning, original . . . beautifully written' Jane Harris

'Exactly observed, densely textured and richly flavoured . . . Crow Court is throbbing with life' Rick Gekoski

Hardback: 336pp

Published: Wilton Square (January 2021)

ISBN: 9781783529100

Paperback: 336pp

Published: Wilton Square (February 2022)

ISBN: 9781800180901