Shroud of Sorrow (novel)

Shroud of Sorrow is one of three Eleventh Doctor novels published in April 2013 and the first to feature Clara Oswald.

Publisher's summary
23 November 1963

It is the day after John F. Kennedy's assassination and the faces of the dead are everywhere. PC Reg Cranfield sees his late father in the mists along Totter's Lane. Reporter Mae Callon sees her grandmother in a coffee stain on her desk. FBI Special Agent Warren Skeet finds his long-dead partner staring back at him from raindrops on a window pane.

The faces begin to talk and scream and push through into our world as the alien Shroud begins to feast on the grief of a world in mourning. Can the Eleventh Doctor dig deep enough into his own sorrow to save mankind?

Plot
After Clara and the Doctor help a ship to fly away, from a world covered in a vast, bubble bath filled liquid, they are entailed in an adventure that involves them thwarting an aliens plot to send the whole world into grief. They end up meeting a news reporter and an FBI agent on the 23 November 1963, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who help the Doctor along with an army of clowns to stop the Shroud from draining the world full of happiness.

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * Mae Callon
 * Reg Cranfield
 * Warren Skeet
 * Shroud
 * Penelope Holroyde
 * Astrid Peth (the Shroud)
 * Ben Parsons
 * Jim
 * Betty Callon (the Shroud)
 * Jock (the Shroud)
 * Mairi Ellison
 * Ruby
 * Tyler (the Shroud)
 * Andrew Ross
 * Sophie (the Shroud)
 * Betty
 * Reuben (the Shroud)
 * Sammy
 * Edith Thomas
 * Tess (the Shroud)
 * Mr. Parsons
 * Jane
 * Michael Green
 * Peggy
 * Private Wright
 * Sergeant Scott
 * General Harley B. West
 * Captain Adam Keating
 * Flip Flop
 * Wobblebottom
 * Jorge
 * Dolfini
 * Orma
 * Jaz
 * Jack Harkness (Torchwood)

Continuity

 * Just before using the Once More With Feeling on himself, the Doctor reassures Clara by saying that it's "as easy as falling off a mushroom on Mechanus". (TV: The Chase)
 * An enormous amount of previous companions and their departures are shown as the Doctor uses the Once More With Feeling on himself, including Susan Foreman (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth), Zoe Heriot, Jamie McCrimmon (TV: The War Games), Jo Grant (TV: The Green Death), Sarah Jane Smith (TV: The Hand of Fear), Adric (TV: Earthshock), Peri Brown (TV: Mindwarp), Mel (TV: Dragonfire), Grace Holloway (TV: Doctor Who), Jack Harkness (TV: The Parting of the Ways), Astrid Peth (TV: Voyage of the Damned), Amy Pond, Rory Williams (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan), and Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (whose death was mentioned in TV: The Wedding of River Song). Several more characters are shown and mentioned as well, including David Campbell (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth), Clifford Jones (TV: The Green Death), Nyssa, Tegan Jovanka (TV: Earthshock), Yrcanos, Kiv (TV: Mindwarp), Rose Tyler (TV: The Parting of the Ways), River Song (TV: Forest of the Dead), and John Benton, Liz Shaw, Mike Yates, Jo Grant, the Second Doctor, the Third Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, the Seventh Doctor, and the Ninth Doctor.
 * The Doctor uses Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's name, but changes his rank to Colonel. The Brigadier was a Colonel when the Second Doctor first met him (TV: The Web of Fear), with another character noting that, at this time, the real Lethbridge-Stewart is on maneuvers in Salisbury Plains.
 * The Doctor mentions his cheese-making degree. (TV: The God Complex)
 * The Doctor keeps a satsuma in his pocket; his previous incarnation had come across someone else who did this. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
 * Various incarnations of the Doctor attended the Brigadier's funeral. Paragraphs of the book do (without name) refer to the Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Doctor being present during the event.
 * At the Brigadier's funeral, Benton commands the UNIT soldiers: "Five rounds rapid!", which is what the Brigadier said to Jenkins in TV: The Daemons.
 * The Doctor speaks Baby. (TV: The Lodger, Closing Time)
 * The Doctor mentions the Roswell crash. (TV: Dreamland)
 * The novel concludes with an open-ended scene in which it's suggested that the Doctor and Clara are about to head off in search of more creatures like the Shroud. It is implied that the Doctor is about to invite Mae to join them, but the story ends before this happens.

Audio release
An audiobook version of the story, read by Frances Barber, was released by AudioGO, with a play time of 5h, 41min.