The Paper Chase: The Printer, the Spymaster, and the Hunt for the Rebel Pamphleteers

Longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown

‘A remarkable achievement’ Spectator

In the summer of 1705, a masked woman knocked on the door of a London printer’s workshop. She did not leave her name, only a package and the promise of protection.

Soon after, an anonymous pamphlet was quietly distributed in the backstreets of the city. Entitled The Memorial of the Church of England, the argument it proposed threatened to topple the government. Fearing insurrection, parliament was in turmoil and government minister Robert Harley launched a hunt for all of those involved. The printer was eventually named, but could not be found…

In this breakneck political adventure, Joseph Hone shows us a nation in crisis through the story of a single incendiary document.

‘An elegant blend of scholarship and detection’ Peter Moore, author of Endeavour
‘Enthralling’ London Review of Books
‘An exciting story told with vigour’ Adrian Tinniswood, Literary Review