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 … 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 Develish 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.
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2019 is not perfect, but let’s all breathe a sigh of relief it is not 1348!
The Black Death decimated approximately between 30% to 60% of Europe in the 14th century with the worst years between 1347 and 1351. The The Last Hours centers on a small English demesne in 1348 and 1349.
Not very many nice or likable characters, at best they are admirable.
Lady Anne is the wife of the despised Lord and mother to one of the most spiteful and viperous daughters written. A slowly developed story, TLH’s deals with how their small fiefdom deals with the advent of the pestilence and also tosses in hints of an economic and power change to come. With whole towns and fiefdoms abandoned and a much smaller labor force, the surviving serf population had the opportunity to bargain for more freedom and money.
Lady Anne’s intelligence and rejection of hide-bound practices of the Catholic Church like absolution over any sin, her promotion of the serfs’ rights is well done and not heavy handed. The intellectual changes that morphed the Dark Ages into the Renaissance had to start somewhere, and Minette Walters does a good job with this and not make it sound like the heroine is a bra-burning feminist that simply found herself in medieval times.
The plot:
Sir Richard sets off to check out a potential husband for his daughter Eleanor. While at the other demesne he and others are infected with the plague. Convent bred and skilled in herbs and infections, Lady Anne refused her husband entry to the castle and hunkers down with all the serfs behind the walls.
Her husband dies, and in subsequent events there is a murder of a young serf that may involve Eleanor, the daughter, as well as a foray outside the castle by some serfs to see how bad the pestilence is and get more food.
This is no adventure tale or romance. The descriptions of the plague are absolutely disgusting and on more than once occasion I had to turn the volume down. However, it is a well done historical novel. MW usually does creepy, psychological mysteries and is a very good writer. It can be read as a stand alone, but is actually the first in whaT I read will be a trilogy. The sequel is The Turn of Midnight.
I will say that one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much was the narrator. Helen Keeley does an amazing job and adds so much value.
Cast of Characters:
Sir Richard: Despite dying early in the story, his past sins of rape, incest and blatant stupidity affect future events.
Lady Anne: Long-suffering and ahead of her time.
Lady Eleanor: Vile but entertaining daughter that should have been drowned at birth. Don’t ask me how she was never slapped throughout the book.
Thaddeus: A serf. He’s an outlier as he is tall, dark and handsome and obviously not his father’s real son. He is Lady Anne’s right hand man much to her steward’s display as he feels Thaddeus is a violation of God’s order, serfs should stay in their place. He leads some boys into their own adventure outside the castle walls.
Good story line that is capable of producing a Follett style saga. However, it felt uneven. In the beginning of the novel there are a lot of wonderful description used, scenes created, characters introduced. Then about midway through the novel 5 characters go must leave in search of supplies/food. During this time the story reaches a plateau and the steady climb towards the story’s climax ends. The end then feels rushed with fewer details and some loose ends.
could not put this book down
It’s 1348, and the plague has started to spread throughout England. No one knows the cause or the cure, let alone any means of prevention, and distrust of strangers abounds. Lady Anne of Devilish is left in charge when her husband leaves the manor, contracts the disease, and dies. She feels tremendous empathy for the local peasants and uses her knowledge of herbal medicine and her wits to help preserve them from both the plague and the marauders taking advantage of their desperate situation–which is more than can be said of the local priest, a drunkard who lets the young people use the church for sexual rendezvous. On top of everything else, Lady Anne has to deal with her haughty daughter Eleanor, a nasty daddy’s girl who never lets anyone forget her superior bloodline. Thankfully, Lady Anne has two trusted servants, her maid Isabel and Isabel’s brother, Thaddeus.
If you like a lot of adventure thrown into your historical fiction, then this is the book for you. I found it a little too dramatic and convoluted and the characters a bit too stereotypical. That said, I stuck with it and really liked the character of Lady Anne, plus the book moves at a good pace with a number of twists and turns along the way. I listened to the book on audio, and after 15-1/2 hours, I was rather disappointed that the conclusion was, “To be continued.” I’m not sure if I will read the next installment, but we’ll see.
Loved the characters, the time frame and location. I am a sucker for well-written Medieval books and this does not disappoint. Even though this is a departure for Minette Walters, it is beautifully done and I can’t wait for the sequel.
A great book! One of the best historical fiction novels out there!