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tl;dr Review:
A well-written tale of the horror and hope that surrounded the spread of The Black Plague in England in the 1300s.
Full Review:
When the Black Death enters England through the port in Dorsetshire 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 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 the manor when news of this pestilence reaches her, she looks for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. She decides to bring her serfs inside the safety of the moat that surrounds her manor house, then refuses entry to anyone else, even her husband.
Lady Anne 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. The nerves of all are tested by continued confinement and ignorance of what is happening in the world outside. The people of Devilish are alive. But for how long? And what will they discover when the time comes for them to cross the moat again?
Compelling and suspenseful, The Last Hours is a riveting tale of human ingenuity and endurance set against the worst pandemic in history. In Lady Anne of Develish—leader, savior, heretic—Walters has created her most memorable heroine to date.
I will say, that last line is right – the heroine is absolutely memorable and a fantastic protagonist.
Prior to this, I’d been reading a lot of non-fiction and thriller/mystery style books, so it was refreshing to have a book that engaged me but wasn’t as intense as some of the others I’d read recently.
This was also an era of history that I am not as familiar with, so it was fascinating to read more on how things were back during the 14th century. Give me a Tudor or Regency era heroine, and I can tell you all about the time period that surrounded her and who the major players were. But this book left that knowledge in the dust and kept me interested from the first page to the last.
If you’re looking for some excellent historical fiction that offers a compelling female protagonist and will leave you wanting more, then I highly recommend you get yourself a copy.
I give it 4.5 out of 5 thumbs up.
