1666, and the plague is sweeping Britain and villages and towns out side of London are not immune from the spread of the disease. The village of Peannie is struck by the plague thought to have been brought in with the fleas on a bolt of fabric by an itinerant tailor. The village at the behest of the Vicar decide to cut themselves off from the wider community to try and contain the infection. So for a year the villagers ride out the scourge of the plague which decimates their community. This is the setting for the book whose main protagonist is Anna Frith, a survivor of a abusive childhood and whose husband and two children succumb to the disease. This is the background against which a huge amount of historical detail is used to describe the story and characters, giving us an evocative description of life in a 17th century village, it's hardships, hierarchical society and harshness of life.
Most of us felt that the epilogue was slightly superfluous to the story. Although nice to hear what happened to Anna, it didn't fit well within the storyline. We all found it fascinating that it was based on a true story and some of us have read further around the subject.
Words used to describe it: harrowing, unsatisfying, relentlessly gruelling, interesting, well written and challenging, visceral,
Marks out of 10 - between 6 - 8 so quite highly marked.
Next Book
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Next Meeting - change of date now Thursday 11th April at 59 Bishop's Road
