LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA DAGGERS HISTORICAL AWARD 2022
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...

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2021, this searingly inventive novel conjures a kaleidoscope of individual lives that all touch a central mystery: the suicide of a choirboy in rural Victorian Dorset

About the Author

Andy Charman has a BA in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Warwick and works as a business analyst and consultant. He is also a certified coach, working with other authors on their writing practice. His short stories have appeared in Every Day Fiction, The Battered Suitcase, Cadenza, Ballista and other periodicals and websites. Born and raised in Dorset, he now lives in Surrey with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

• 'Clever, elegantly constructed, utterly convincing' Daily Mail
  
• 'Charman is less interested in unravelling a mystery and more concerned with the consequences that ripple out from the original violence . . . Skilful' Sunday Times
• 'Debut novels shouldn't be this perfectly formed. Its subject is historic, yet its exploration of morality feels utterly modern. A rarity in historical fiction: it truly places you in the here and now of a world once removed. Crow Court already looks, feels and smells like a classic' Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole and The Offing
• 'A confident and exciting debut: exactly observed, densely textured and richly flavoured, Crow Court is throbbing with life' Rick Gekoski, author of Darke
• 'This clever narrative is both page-turning and original - an innovative and beautifully written historical novel that features an array of diverse characters and voices from its vividly realised Dorset setting' Jane Harris, author of Sugar Money
• 'Inventive, original and deeply moving. There is a warmth and humanity, an acceptance of the vagaries and challenges of life' Alice Jolly, author of Mary Anne Sate, Imbecile
• 'A gripping mystery, beautifully teased out over several decades, full of intrigue and ambiguity' Andy Hamilton, author of Longhand
• 'This is an original and compelling debut' Jane Shilling, Daily Mail
  

'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

Book Information
ISBN 9781783529100
Author Andy Charman
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Unbound Digital
Publisher Unbound