Aftershock Historical Novel by Liz McSkeane

ISBN 9781913598594   Forthcoming, October 2025

Aftershock will be available in all good bookshops and online from October 15th.

Lisbon, All Souls’ Day, November 1st 1755.

In less than ten minutes, a massive earthquake reduces the city to rubble. An hour later, a tsunami floods the city, followed by a firestorm that rages for five days. Assailed by earth, water and flames, thousands of people die.

From the ruins of the devastated city emerges one man who resolves to deliver the country from disaster, promising to ‘heal the sick and bury the dead’: Dom Sebastião José Carvalho e Melo, who will later become the Marquis of Pombal.  Facing down contempt and opposition from a decadent aristocracy, obstructed by the powerful Jesuit order, Dom Sebastião, with the support of the king, reconstructs the capital, rebuilds the economy and overhauls every arm of government, restoring order from chaos.

But at what cost?

Aftershock is the story of a nation in crisis, and the unprecedented actions of one leader determined to protect the foundations of society.  

But how far can he go to protect the social order, without destroying it? And is the price ever too high?