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The Seventeenth Century
Eyam
First published in 1983 and still in print.
The year is 1665. The "patterns" in question are a set of fancy shapes in sackcloth or rough canvas. They have been sent from London to a tailor in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. The tailor is to make a dress for the wife of the new parson. Within a day the tailor is dead. The patterns have been infected. The patterns are burned but it is too late. They have brought the plague to Eyam.
Then follows a description of the various forms of the plague and the different ways in which the people try to deal with it. The richer people all leave. The poorer people cannot do that but some of them build themselves little huts in the countryside around Eyam. The herb tea and the London liniments do nothing to stop the spread of the plague. The death toll mounts and finally Parson Momphesson gets the people to agree to stay within the bounds of the parish of Eyam so that they will not infect the surrounding countryside. The Duke of Devonshire arranges for food and other necessities to be delivered daily to a collection point.
Mall Percival is sixteen. She tends her sheep on the hillside while keeping well clear of Thomas, another shepherd, so that she will not infect him.
This story is the account Mall writes when it is all over. Writing it is her way of ridding herself of the horrors of the past year.
Mall and Thomas are fictional characters but A Parcel of Patterns is founded on fact. It is well researched and it brings to life the horrors of the plague year.
12+
Timeslip.
This book was first published in 1992.
One night Jack Rutherford has a strange and frightening dream. He sees a cradle surrounded by figures in long dresses and white bonnets. They are calling to him, "Jack, please help us."
The next day, in an antique shop, he sees the cradle of his dream. As he gazes at it he knows that he is meant to have it. Back home he tells his mother - she is expecting a baby. At first she is adamant that she wants a modern cradle but she goes and looks at it and when she see it she feels the same as Jack - that she is meant to have it.
The cradle is brought home. It has four wooden acorns on it. One is loose. While turning it idly Jack finds himself transported back to the Eyam of 1665. He is in the thatched cottage where Susannah Roe lives with her parents and baby brother William. After some time in Eyam Jack gets back to his own time by again turning the loose acorn.
This is the first of several visits Jack makes to seventeenth century Eyam. At first Susannah is afraid of him but after he saves baby William from falling into the fire she comes to trust him. Once Jack realises that he has been sent to Eyam for a purpose; that there is something he has to do. Then the moment passes and he forgets.
Then the plague comes to Eyam and Jack realises why he has been sent there. Baby William is a victim of the plague. Both Jack's parents are doctors. They have drugs which can cure William. But Jack does not want to steal from his parents. And if he did take the drugs back to Eyam, could he ever persuade Susannah to give them to William?
Seventeenth century Eyam and the way of life of the people is clearly described. There are the stone cottages with thatched roofs, the narrow lane and the two water troughs. There is the sense of isolation. Derby is a long way away and Susannah has never heard of America. The people are deeply religious and accept that death is all around them. Susannah had three brothers who all died in infancy.
The author leads up to the plague gradually. The date 1665 is mentioned in the first chapter and many readers will know the significance at once. Eyam is first mentioned in chapter three but even then there is no hint of the plague. Instead there is a detailed description of a village carnival.
But when the plague strikes we are given all the familiar details:- the first victim the tailor George Viccars and then the death of the widow Cooper's two sons. We are also introduced to Parson Mompesson.
Contrasting with seventeenth century Eyam is Jack's life in present day Derby:- his problems at school with bullies - and with his best friend Tom: his relationships at home with his parents.
Jack's dilemma introduces an extra story element into something so familiar and well known as Eyam and the plague.
The Naming of William Rutherford was shortlisted for the Sheffield Children's Book Award and nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
12+
This book was first published in 1985.
In 1666, the plague came to the village of Eyam in the Peak District. The village was isolated until the plague was over. Some of the villagers took refuge in barns up on the moors -- and this fact forms the heart of the novel.
The story tells of three children. Their parents take up supplies of food and blankets and tell them to stay in the barn until a messenger comes to tell them that the plague is over. We are given details of how they fend for themselves: how they cook their food, how they find extra, how they cut up sheepskins to make clothes to keep themselves warm. There are also incidents as when the elder girl slips back to the village and steals two hens and when the shepherd they look after has a fever.
This book is set completely in the past except for a short part at the front and at the back which is set at the present time. Three children hiking in the Peak District with their parents shelter in an old stone barn during a storm. They take on the characters of the three children who spent the plague year there and act out how they survived.
8+
This book just touches on Eyam and the plague. Some members of a boys' football team are transported back in time. They help to take food to a village cut off by the plague.
9 +