The year is 1665. In a remote Pennines village a tailor receives a bundle of infected cloth. Anna Frith, an 18 year old widow, watches the disease devastating her community as desperate, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and witchhunting. Under the guidance of their young preacher, they finally put themselves in quarantine to stop the spread of the disease. The story is based on the real events in Eyam, a village in the Peak District.
This was a very different read for our book group, and we really enjoyed it. However as not all of the group had finished reading it, we had to be very careful not to mention any spoilers! (Which if you’ve read it, you’ll understand!)
One of our group has holidayed near the village where the novel is set, and liked being able to visualise the area. Other members mentioned how they liked the descriptions of the mining, the farming, and the village itself which helped them see the characters, landscapes and community in more detail. We did query how much of the book was written with a modern perspective. One reader mentioned how she’d been concerned that some of the old-English phrasing speech might make the book difficult to read, but found it created more atmosphere.
While the book was written before 2020, the similarities between the 17th century villagers and the plague, and the 21st century world and Covid were quite surprising. Fear was a major motivation, and things like moving the church services outdoors and people isolating themselves in case of contagion rang true.
We warmed to the character of Anna, and how she, Elinor and the Reverend Michael Mompellion worked together to help the villagers. Their exhaustion and fatigue, as they dealt with all the deaths and illness felt authentic. Anna’s father was a repellent character and seemed to have no redeeming qualities, which did rather put us at a loss as to why she kept forgiving him. The different perspectives was interesting – the two village women who were the original healers and midwives were suddenly reviled as witches, leading to their being attacked by a vicious mob.
Several group members said that they would not have picked up the book themselves, which goes to show that the adage is true – never judge a book by its cover!
We all felt that the ending of the novel was very sudden, not realistic and not what we were expecting. One group member commented how the ending was clearly fictional, where many historical novels tend to stick reasonably close to the evidence. Nevertheless we gave the book a great 4/5
In a world where it’s a crime to be out after dark, young priest Christopher Fairfax must arrive at a remote village on Exmoor before curfew. His role is to bury the late village priest, but finds his way strewn with ancient artefacts from a civilisation which ended in cataclysm. What he doesn’t know is that everything he believes in will be tested to destruction, as he uncovers a terrifying and dangerous secret.
Come along to the Education Centre Library to pick up your copy. If you want to read the book but can’t make the session, we’re happy to receive email feedback too!
We’re meeting on Teams at 1.00pm, on Wednesday 19th November and look forward to seeing you there!
Find out more about our reading groups here or take a look at some of our previous book reviews.
