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The Seventeenth Century
Plague and Fire
This is the sequel to No Shame, No Fear. Estranged from his father Will is now working in a Friend's bookshop in London. He writes to Susanna and tells her that he is saving hs money and will soon be travelling back to Shropshire so that they can be married. Then he will take her back to London with her.
Then the plague breaks out and Will leaves it too late. He is trapped in London when it is ordered that a certificate of health is needed before one can leave the city. Things become even worse. The family he is staying with and working for all catch the plague and die. Will is accused of 'causing an affray' and imperisoned in Newgate where he catches the plague and would have died if a wealthy member of the Friends had not paid his fine, taken him into his own home and nursed him well again. Then Susanna, who is worried because she has not heard from him for some time, makes her own way to London. She finds him with the wealthy family and there is a misunderstanding when she thinks he is attracted to the eldest daughter of the house.
But that is cleared up and, restored to health once more, Will finds another job in a bookshop. He is finally able to marry Susanna and all seems well. Then the Great Fire breaks out and Will and Susanna are both tested again.
Told in the first person by Will and Susanna who both write their own accounts in alternating chapters. Ann Turnbull manages to capture the Friends' mode of speech very well -- as well as their way of life.
But once again I was doubtful about the lengths the Friends would go to in order to defend their principles. Will and two other Friends are thrown into Newgate where Will becomes gravely ill and the other two die. And these deaths are completely unecessary because they could all have been freed if they agreed tro pay a fine. Martydom or a dreadful waste?
I am glad that Will and his father are reconciled at the end.
An unusual look at the Great Plague and Fire of London.
Young adult
This is one of Scholastic's fictional diary series, My Story.
Fourteen-year-old Alice lives with her father and Aunt Nell in London. When her aunt dies of the plague the house is shut up, with Alice left alone in it. This is done so quickly that her father is not able to gain admittance when he returns home that evening. At first he visits Alice to see if she has what she needs but then he is taken ill himself and taken to the pesthouse and Alice has to make do with the watchman assigned to her. She lowers a basket from an upper window and the watchman puts food in it.
For much of the diary we are shown how Alice copes on her own -- the visits from the doctor, the problem of finding food, and even her struggle to save her little dog from the dogcatcher. But Alice survives the regulation forty days and is allowed out of the house again. She goes to the Old Bailey, and after a long wait in a queue, she gets her prized Certificate of Health. Then she raises some money, buys a horse and sets out for Woolwich where she has relatives. She finds Woolwich well guarded against Londoners and the threat of the plague, so she returns home and is soon reunited with her father who has recovered and has been released from the pesthouse. Gradually they begin to pick up the threads of their life again.
The book ends with a brief description of the Great Fire of London.
Comes with historical notes and a section of contemporary illustrations.
This book forms a good introduction of the Plague for young people but it must be said that the diary format has its limitations. For one thing it does not have the plot and structure of a conventional novel. Moreover some sections lack immediacy as Alice is forced to tell about things she has not seen herself -- for example the mass burials. On the other hand the detailed description of the crowds fleeing to Woolwich and further on go some way to making up for this.
Even so this is more an easy way of learning
history than a story or a novel.
10+
Hannah lives in a small village outside London. Her elder sister runs a sweetmeat shop -- called The Sugared Plum -- in London and she writes to ask Hannah to come and help her. When Hannah arrives she finds that Sarah had written a second letter telling her not to come as there is plague in the city. But Hannah did not receive the second letter.
Still they do not worry about the plague too much and Hannah learns how to go to the markets for herbs, and how to make sweetmeats and sell them. She is fascinated by all the new things she sees in London. She also meets up with a friend from her own village -- Abby who is now in service in a big house. She even meets a young man who is an apprentice to an apothecary. Then then plague starts to get a hold. Every week the figures in the bils of mortality keep rising. But there is no escape because, to be abl;e to leave London, a certificate of health is required.
Mary Hooper manages to bring the facts about the plague easily into the story. For example one afternoon Hannah loses her way and is late getting home. Because of this she sees the huge plague pit. Then the household where Abby works is striken and we see just what it means when a house is shut up.
The story ends when Hannah and her sister are given the health certificates meant for Abby and her mistress and smuggle the baby duaghter of the household -- the sole survivor -- out of the city.
This book really brings home the horror of the Great Plague of London.
Comes with historical notes, a glossary and recipes for seventeenth century sweetmeats. There are quotations from Samuel Pepys at the beginning of every chapter.
9-13
This is the sequel to At The Sign of the Sugared Plum and it starts where the previous book leaves off. Hannah and her sister take the baby to its mother's sister who is living in a fine house in Dorchester. But she refuses to accept the baby into her household. Instead Hannah, her sister Sarah and the baby have to go to the pesthouse for forty days quarantine. After a grim stay there they all return to the big house where they stay while the plague runs its course. Then Hannah and Sarah leave to return to London stopping off for a while in their own village. Once there Sarah decides to stay but Hannah returns to London this time taking her young sister Anne with her.
This gives Mary Hooper an opportunity to describe London through the eyes of an excited Anne who is seeing it for the first time. They arrive on a boat going up the Thames and Anne is thrilled when she sees the King. Later Nell Gwyn comes into the shop and gives them tickets for the theatre. They also manage a visit to St Bartholomew's Fair -- where Hannah discovers that her sweetheart Tom did not die of the plague after all.
The fire breaks out but no one is too alarmed. It will soon be put out. But it is soon raging out of control. Hannah and Anne get to the Moore gate and Anne gets safely through it but Hannah is trampled by the crowd and they are separated. Hannah then tries to find another way out of the city but loses her way and ends up in St Paul's just before it catches fire. Fortunately she meets an old friend who helps her to escape -- and they hear the explosion and see the whole city lit up when the crypt of St Paul's explodes. Then follow descriptions of the encampment on the Moore Fields, the visit of the King and the questions as to what they are to do now that they have lost everything.
Some magnificent descriptions of the raging fire, the piles of rubble and the utter devastation.
Comes with a historical note and a section of recipes from the stillroom.
9-13
This book is about 10,000 words long. It is for children of 7-11.
This story about the Great Plague of 1665 has been given an extra dimension and added interest by the fact that it is written around one of the most incredible people who ever lived in London.
The eponymous Plague Piper was a real person. He was a Scotsman who played the bagpipes in taverns for his drink and food. During the Plague he hid in various cellars. He kept moving from place to place. This was because of his little terrier Jamie. He was trying to save him from the dog killers who went round clubbing any dog they could find to death. Whenever the Piper heard the dog killers coming he would start to play "Greensleeves" - and Jamie would take to his heels. As the Piper said himself,
"As soon as danger threatens I have only to play that English dirge and Jamie runs for his life. He hates it as much as I do."
Jamie and the Piper were to be involved in one of the most extraordinary incidents of the London Plague. One night the Piper got drunk. He fell asleep and was loaded onto one of the death carts. The cart had just reached the plague pit and the Piper was about to be thrown twenty feet into it when a small dog jumped onto the cart and began to bark loudly. Then a figure rose to its feet and began playing what the driver of the cart was convinced was the Pipes of Hell.
The dog was Jamie and he had awoken his master just in time to save him from being thrown into the plague pit and being buried alive.
Because of this incident the Piper became famous. A rich man gave him a pension and commissioned a statue of him. That statue can be seen today in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In this story two children, Bessy and Nick, come into the life of the Piper.
The Plague Piper is packed with information about the plague with its symptoms and ineffectual remedies and also the London of the time and there is a very useful map. The story is quite dramatic - from the opening when Nick is nearly smothered by a plague nurse to the climax when Nick and Bessy are trapped in the burning St Paul's. But what will really make this story stay in the reader's memory is the awesome and yet amusing, description of the Piper rising up on the death cart.
I really enjoyed this little book. But then I would. I am Scottish and I am also a dog lover.
Truly a little gem of a book.
For Key Stage 2 readers. 7 - 11
This book was first published in 1970. It is a historical novel for very young people.
Orphaned in the Great Plague, twelve year old Peter ekes out a living by working as a waterman on the River Thames. He lives aboard his rowing boat with his dog Bruno until Lucy, the daughter of Lord Hensham, arranges for him to stay with her old nurse, Mobsby, who lives in a house on London Bridge. All goes well until the Fire of London. Peter works hard ferrying people across to the safe side of the River. When London Bridge catches fire Lucy falls into the water. Peter saves her but, in so doing, his boat is wrecked. Afterwards Lucy's father gets him a new boat and he goes to live with Mobsby in her new stone cottage.
This book may be short but it is packed with historical detail - detail about the Thames watermen and "shooting the bridge", detail about London Bridge and Mobsby's tall, narrow wooden house - and Mobsby's cooking. At the end of the book there is a description of the refugees camped out on the far side of the Thames and the visit of Charles II.
I calculate that this book is about 12,000 words long. This is the length for children who are just advancing to reading books for themselves. For the age range 7 to 9. The writing is simple but certainly not childish. An excellent introduction to historical fiction for young people.
Monica Dickens is better known for her Follyfoot series - a series of books set in a rescue home for old horses.
This is one of the Sparks series of stories linking with the National Curriculum,Key Stage 2.
Harriet Farynor's mother died in the Plague and she now helps her father in his bakery in Pudding Lane. Harriet is very fond of the little terrier Ginger who works for his living as a turnspit dog.
The story starts with Harriet making biscuit dough for the King's biscuits. When they are finished Harriet is allowed to take them to the Palace herself. She goes with her friend Nelly who has to deliver a parcel for her mother, a lacemaker. Harriet wants to take Ginger too but she can't because he has work to do. There is a huge leg of pork on the spit.
Harriet delivers her biscuits. Then she goes with Nelly to visit Nelly's aunt who lives on the other side of the river. She spends the night with them.
She is wakened in the middle of the night by a strange rustling sound. Then the rustling turns to a roar. Harriet rushes to the window and sees that the buildings on the other side of the river are all on fire. She opens the window and hears people shouting. She learns that the fire started in a baker's in Pudding lane. Her father's!
Harriet at once thinks of Ginger. What if he is trapped in his turnspit wheel? She must rescue him. She slips out of the house. Nelly comes with her. They find a boatman they know and cross the river to the burning, dangerous part of London.
This book contains much historical detail from the actual everyday work in the bakery to the streets of London and the busy waterway of the Thames, to say nothing of the actual descriptions of the Fire itself.
There are useful notes on:- baking: the Great Fire of London: fire fighting: Samuel Pepys: Sir Christopher Wren and rebuilding London.
Finally just let me assure all animal lovers that Ginger is all right and survives the Fire -- as does Harriet.
7-11
This is from the Hodder Wayland's Historical Storybooks series. These books aim to present historical events in an enjoyable form for Key Stage 2 readers.
Young William Turner is woken by shouts of "Fire." He looks out of the window and sees people in the street, hears a faint crackling sound in the distance and sees a glow in the sky. William's father goes to Tower Hill to see how the fire is spreading and William persuades his father to let him come too. From their vantage point they see the fire blazing strongly. Their own house is safe for the time being but if the wind changes it could be in danger. William and his father return home to find that William's aunt and uncle are there with his cousins. They have just lost their house.
William's father makes his decisions. He instructs William to take his younger brother and his three cousins to their grandparents to the village of Bethnal Green where they will be safe. William obeys and shepherds his charges through the thronged streets. But once they are in the care of the grandparents he slips away again and goes back home. His father is angry at first but allows him to help in the boat when he tries to rescue people who are struggling in the river. Then they go back home and bury their valuables in the garden.
This is a very simple little story for young readers but it does provide a good introduction to the Great Fire of London. The fleeing crowds, the houses ablaze on London Bridge, the boats on the river, the blowing up of houses to provide a firebreak –– all are there.
This book is just under 2,000 words long. It is illustrated with watercolour style pictures in both colour and black and white.
A good introduction to history for the very young. Comes with historical notes for parent, teacher or older child.
7+