The last hours /
Minette Walters.
- Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2017.
- 555 pages : maps ; 24 cm.
- The last hours; 1 .
"For most, the Black Death is the end. For a brave few, it heralds a new beginning."--Cover.
When the Black Death enters England through the port of Melcombe in Dorseteshire in June 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is or how it spreads and kills so quickly. The Church cites God as the cause, and religious fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness. But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. Educated by nuns, Anne is a rarity among women, being both literate and knowledgeable. With her brutal husband absent from Develish when news of this pestilence reaches her, she takes the decision to look for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. Well-versed in the importance of isolating the sick from the well, she withdraws her people inside the moat that surrounds her manor house and refuses entry even to her husband. She makes an enemy of her daughter and her husband's steward by doing so, but her resolve is strengthened by the support of her leading serfs ... until food stocks run low and the nerves of all are tested by continued confinement and ignorance of what is happening in the world outside. The people of Develish are alive. But for how long? And what will they discover when the time comes for them to cross the moat? Compelling and suspenseful, The Last Hours is a riveting tale of human ingenuity and endurance against the worst pandemic known to history. In Lady Anne of Develish - leader, saviour, heretic - Walters has created her most memorable heroine to date.
General.
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9781760294984 : $32.99
1300-1399
Black Death--England--Fiction. Historical fiction. Great Britain History 14th century Fiction. Upper class--Fiction. Plague. Black death. Quarantine. Families. Black Death - Fiction. Plague - Fiction. Upper class - Fiction. Families - Fiction. Quarantine - Fiction. Great Britain - History - 14th century - Fiction. Upper class. Historical fiction. Black Death. Families. Plague. Quarantine. Upper class. Historical fiction. Plague--Fiction. Black Death--Fiction. Quarantine--Fiction. Families--Fiction. Quarantine Fiction. Upper class Fiction. Families Fiction. Black Death Fiction. Plague Fiction.
Great Britain--History--14th century--Fiction. Great Britain. Great Britain--History--14th century.