Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Mira for the advanced reader copy of this historical fiction novel. I thought this tale of an isolated fiefdom during the Black Plague in 1348 was fairly entertaining. As others have commented, the character of Lady Anne seemed somewhat unrealistically modern in her thinking and fortititude, but I guess it wouldn’t have been much of a story otherwise! I knew going in that is was a planned trilogy, so I wasn’t surprised by the unsatisfying ending, but I’m glad the author didn’t leave ALL the loose ends hanging. If you want to read about the Black Plague, I would recommend Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders before this.

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In The Last Hours, Minette Walters has created an evocative tale in what promises to be the first of a trilogy. One isolated British fiefdom hears tales of the impending Black Death and makes plans to avoid its wrath. Complete with graphic descriptions of life among both the lords of the manor and the serfs in the field, Walters weaves a tale of intrigue, survival, madness and an epic quest. The ending was not satisfying to this reviewer but all may be revealed in the epilogue.
I received a free copy of this ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the first book by Minette Walters I have ever read. Will I read more? I sincerely doubt it.
The premise of this book was interesting and catching. I love history, England and strong female characters. The period of The Black Death was interesting as well.
However, the book, from very early on, felt more like a fantasy or 'hindsight' novel rather than historical fiction. Lady Anne seems way too modern, too strong. All of the male characters seem to be weak, measly and irrelevant. All the passions and emotions are secondary to planning and descriptions of what needs to be done to avoid the plague.
'To be continued' ending was really the tombstone on the book. What more can you possibly say on the subject? The book is too long anyhow. Too long and slow going.
A very valuable experience in reading I will avoid next time.

I read this in a day. And a night. I couldn’t put it down. And even better it’s huge and there are 2 more to go. Minette Walters is one of my favourite authors and despite not usually reading historical fiction her name sold me. She gets into characters that convinces more than any other author I’ve ever read and this is no different. I can’t wait for number 2 but I’ll read it slowly this time and savour it{ RECOMMENDATION ALL THE WAY.

In the past, Walters has written some chilling and intense thrillers, but it has been ten years since her last full length published novel. In this one she turns her extensive talent to a well researched historical. There is still a suspicious death, in fact there are many deaths as this book tackles the horrifying and world altering, Black Death.

The year is 1348, and Sir Richard is traveling to another demense in order to negotiate a marriage for his daughter. He will never return home, nnor will many accompanying him except for the baseborn serf Gyles. Lady Anne, a very wise and fair Lady, takes charge and in defense of this plague brings all serfs inside the enclosure and seals off the entries and exits. Her daughter, who despises her mother, despises the serfs, may be, after the plague, her mothers greatest enemy. There are secrets here that come out within the story, and some fascinating characters, fascinating history. A social parable as the Black Death changes the socio economic make up of the country. Religious aspects., as many back then thought only sinners would be stricken, and those in God's favor would be spared. A strong woman character, whose strength of purpose, and ability to act was not common during this time period. I adored this character, as well as Gyles, Thaddeus and Isabelle.

I understand this will be one of three in this historical trilogy, in fact, this one ends on a cliffhanger. So, now I wait. Fans of Karen Maitland's Company of Liars, will enjoy this as will fans of general historical novels. The Black Death killed so many, was such a frightening time in history.

ARC from Netgalley.

What attracted me to this story was the Black Death theme. However, very quickly, it became clear that this book is not for me. A lot of people are being introduced with no sense where the story is going. Personally, I prefer something more structured.

When you like Post-Apocalypse SF stories you will like this historical novel. Yes you read that correctly.!!

It is 14th century England and a strange illness spreads like wildfire from one demesne to the other killing most people. No one knows what it is or what causes it.

England is in those days a feudal society. The king is the feudal lord of dukes and earls. They are the feudal lords or barons and those are the ones mere knights swear fealty to. On the domains work and live the serves who are more or less slaves tied to the land and unable to leave. Though there are also towns with freemen.

The demesne Develish is owned by a poor knight who has just that one manorhouse and the serves working there on his demesne in a valley in Dorsetshire. He is married to Lady Anne and they have a daughter. The man is a total jerk and stupid to boot. His wife however had some training because she was raised in a nunnery. She can read and write and knows basic healing. When he is away from home and tales of the mysterious illness reach Develish Lady Anne decides that all the people of the village should come inside the manor and behind the moat. She reasons that in her convent ill sheep were separated from the healthy ones and that helped prevent illnesses spreading.

The book is a very good read. I was two days glued to my Kindle. The Middle Ages came alive. Instead of a "death everywhere"-story it is a layered story that also deals with the aftermath of a pandemic. Ok they are not ill but can they go and find food? What happens when a whole area is death? How can you see this in a religious concept? What happens when there is no law and order? What will happen with them without an heir?

There are also a lot of personal secrets to be revealed.

I really enjoyed learning stuff about the Middle Ages that I did not know or realised like the banishment of cats or the fact that the average person never left his village and had no idea what was behind the hills,

So far the positive things about the book. I also have some negative things to say:
1) Minor detail: something is off with the editing. Some words starting with an f like flooding are spelled f looding;
2) What other reviewers also mentioned: Anachronisms. I cannot imagine abortions in such a religious and ignorant time. Also the people think the Plague is caused by rats. And hints are given to the flees who carry that disease. But that was only discovered in the last century. People used to think it was a punishment by God or cause by air (hence the birdmen masks of the doctors that were stuffed with vinegar. Side effect a flee hates vinegar). And why would a moat protect them? Rats can swim.
But that is not the only thing that made me wonder about the historical correctness. No woman would be able to refuse her lord and master. And even when a lady would be a good person I cannot imagine her thinking she is equal to her servants. Another thing is the Saxon-Norman thing. Was that not done and dusted by then? It is more than 150 years after the Battle of Hastings.
3) BIGGEST SOURCE OF IRRITATION: Suddenly my Kindle stopped and I thought it malfunctioned. Turned out it was the end of a first book of a series. That was nowhere mentioned. I would be so pissed off if I had paid 12 dollar for just a partial story (and part 2 not even printed) even when it is a long story. Yes you can write a series but end then book 1 on a logical moment. For instance the boys expect Taddeus to leave for France. When the writer would end the story the moment he leaves Develish to find his fortune elsewhere it would be a logical moment to say "to be continued".

A real 5 start story but I deducted one for the crappy ending.

A well researched and well written historical novel about the Death Plague. The plot is interesting, the characters are well developed and it was hard to put it down.
Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for this ARC

The Black Plague began in 1348 in Medieval England and claimed millions of lives. While we have heard about it in history, this book conveys the story from the perspective the Lord and Serfs of the demesne of Develish.

How and why did some survive while others perished? What kept some healthy and free of the sickness? While fiction, you can see that the events portrayed in the book could be an actual account of the one such demesne and its inhabitants. Along with the intrigue and secrets that go on in any community.

I look forward to the sequel.

What can I say Minette Walters is such a brilliant, talented writer. Her attention to historical detail is second to none. The black death cannot have been an easy subject to research but she records it perfectly. Cannot recommend this book enough.

From book description: "June, 1348: the Black Death enters England through the port of Melcombe in the county of Dorsetshire. Unprepared for the virulence of the disease, and the speed with which it spreads, the people of the county start to die in their thousands. "

I love historical fiction, but have to admit to being surprised that one of my favorite authors of dark psychological fiction has returned with a novel set during the first outbreak of the the plague. The Black Death was, really, the first dystopian situation.

In The Last Hours, Lady Ann of Develish cuts her estate off from the rest of the world in time to prevent the disease from laying waste to her people. Lady Ann is a strong character with a better understanding of disease and contagion than most from her years in an abbey before her marriage. The enforced quarantine gives the people in the Manor a chance to survive.

Safety from the contagion is only part of the problem, however. As time passes, there is also the threat of starvation. Eventually, Thaddeus Thurkill and a few adolescents leave the safety of the Manor seeking supplies.

The novel has several stories going on and plenty of well-rounded characters, both good and bad. This is a story of personalities united in survival mode. Carrying on the dystopian idea, those infected by the plague are reminiscent of zombies. The infected carry death and no one understands how or why.

I'm always in for survivor stories.

Well-researched, but modern enough in thought and language to create a fascinating tale of the endurance of humanity against the odds.

The incident in which Thaddeus is frightened by a cat made me curious. From a brief mention I made on my other blog when I finished reading: An interesting side-note: The plague has devastated the countryside, entire villages dead or fled. The Dorset countryside is largely bereft of the living when a character investigates an abandoned building that, unaccountably, has no evidence of rats. Thaddeus is initially terrified when a strange creature jumps out at him. A demon with strange eyes? The young man had heard of cats, but never seen one because the Church considered them familiars of witches.

When I read the section about the Church associating cats with evil, I was surprised. I'd never heard that before--which is when I did a little research and found plenty of authentication. The Church at the time preached against cats, which were associated with witches and the devil and were often killed. In some areas, cats were essentially unknown. Some authorities believe that the prejudice against cats was one of the reasons the plague was so devastating in certain areas--the rat population had no predators.(from Bayouquilts
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and there is a sequel in the works--but then I love history and historical novels. A Garden Carried in the Pocket

Read in March; blog review scheduled for July 24.

NetGalley/Harlequin-Mira

Historical Fiction. August 7, 2018. Print length: 547 pages.

I selected this book based on an online recommendation. The cover and description were appealing, so I decided to give it a shot. The author is new to me, but the era of history is not. Fourteenth century history does, however, seem to be unfamiliar to the author.

Very little of the attitudes, speech, and beliefs of the characters of this book felt 14th century to me. Besides being flat, one-dimensional characters, many of them sounded like modern people thrown into a novel about the plague. Faith and church, which were an important part of life to most people, rich or poor, at this time, are treated with disdain and mockery by almost every character. Medical knowledge of the 21st century is injected throughout the novel to create an island of survivors while everyone around them is dying.

The only character I had any sympathy for was one the author tries very hard to paint as a villain. But I had pity for the neglected and abused fourteen-year-old daughter whose mother had long ago decided that insults were her favored parenting tool. We are supposed to believe that at some point Lady Anne had tried her best with Eleanor, but her treatment of the girl is horrifying, and it is not shocking that the girl has turned into a brat doing whatever it takes to get some attention. That's what neglected kids do.

As for Thaddeus and his boring ramble through the countryside abusing his own crew of teenagers.....I don't even know what the point of that was. There is a murder that is solved along the way, but no one seems too concerned about it.

The book ends with 'to be continued' but I will not be looking for more of these selfish, anachronistic characters' stories.

Nearly the whole time while reading this book, I planned to give it at least four stars. It is well-written, compelling, and never lost my interest.

Lady Anne saves her community from the Black Death by immediately enforcing quarantine upon first being warned of the plague's existence. The first part of the book is indeed about the plague -- it furnished me all the fear, gore, and corpses I expected. The latter two-thirds of the book focuses more on Lady Anne's barricaded community and how they are able to live together, logistically and socially. There are many unique characters (Lady Anne's insane teenage daughter, the 19-year-old steward who may or may not be in love with Lady Anne, the stupid, evil priest, the village headmen and their families, the cowardly former steward) but none that really transcend the plot. Thaddeus is really the only person who comes close, but that's fine. The plot is really the most important part of this book, like in a mystery novel.

The whole character of this book is like the zombie apocalypse, plus a murder mystery. It is TRULY shocking to me how much the Black Death epidemic has the character of a zombie apocalypse. The dead stay dead, but aside from that it must have truly seemed like the world was ending. The distrust of everyone -- are YOU clean? Are <i>YOU</i>? Lady Anne's community deals with attacks from a vicious band of looters without, and power-hungry plots within, hiding from a countryside devastated with death and human travesty. The murder mystery aspect comes when there is a foul play death within their community -- as in every murder mystery, tension rises when everyone's long-buried dark secrets start to come out. There is a lot of rape and talk of rape.

Eventually, all the rape started to get to me. I guess some amount of rape is expected, especially during the apocalypse when society is collapsing, but does there have to be rape behind EVERY narrative twist? My brain almost felt as defiled by the ubiquitous sexual violence at the end of the story as it did by the awful, morbid details of the plague. I CAME for the plague; I did <i>not</i> come to see constant, unremitting sexual crimes. At the end, I really felt like it spoiled a lot of my enjoyment of the story, and I was relieved to finally put the book down. This issue, plus the stupidly ambiguous non-ending ending that resolved absolutely nothing, is why I docked a star.

EVEN IF YOUR BOOK 👏 IS PART 👏 OF A SERIES 👏 YOU STILL 👏 NEED 👏 TO WRITE 👏 AN ACTUAL ENDING 👏

It's hard to imagine a monsterkiller like the Black Death in our modern western world. But in 1348 it thunders over England's hills, destroying everyone in its path.
Without the lord being present at their estate in Develish, lady Anne takes control, showing kindness and hospitality to her serfs, teaching them hygiene and herbal medicine.
She follows her heart and works in harmony with the serfs securing the compound and keeping them alive in these harsh conditions.
The story gives a detailed account of the Black Death in an increasingly desolate landscape where the few survivors struggle to find food by all means neccessary.
The characters are well developed, the writing captivating, the twist near the end an unexpected bonus.
Beautiful historical fiction.

In 1348 the Black Death arrived in Dorset and quickly raged throughout the country and it is against this background that Minette Walters has set The Last Hours a work of historical fiction. As the deaths mount and society breaks down one small community, Develish, struggles to deal with, and understand, what is happening. Fortunately Lady Anne instructs her people in the virtues of hygiene and quarantine. She is a very intelligent woman and has been quietly organising the demesne without her husband’s knowledge (who was killed by the plague) and it is largely due to her and her bondsmen that the small community of 200 serfs survive. Within this environment we witness petty jealousies, a murder and the struggle to endure all the fears and privation that this situation fosters.

Now Lady Anne is the hero, no doubt. But I didn’t really like her, well more likely, didn’t totally believe in her. Too good to be true, but was there a little frisson between her and Thaddeus? On the other hand, Thaddeus (an illegitimate serf) who has endured ostracism not only from his father and mother, but also the greater part of the community, I liked. It is his role to leave the security of the manor and investigate the wider area. This concept I really enjoyed. Walters showed us how isolated each manor was with only the gentry travelling further afield, whilst the serfs were bound to that small area. I am sure an enormous amount of research went into this book and it is well-written but, for me, it just doesn’t bite. As I neared the end, I was thinking ‘how can this be resolved, how can it end?’ Then I discovered it didn’t, to be continued…. NO. How frustrating.

Now I have set the book aside a few days, not really sure that I would pick up the second instalment… That is not to say that I don’t admire Minette Walters’ work for I absolutely do. Perhaps not this one quite as much.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin-Mira for the eARC.
Minette Walters' psychological thrillers are terrific; I recommended her books to family and friends and all of them became fans as well.
I eagerly requested The Last Hours and was thrilled when I was sent the eARC.
To my disappointment I found it boring and did not finish it.
The story is set in 14th Century England when whole areas were decimated by the Black Death. The start of the story was promising; the descriptions of the disease horrifying. We meet Lady Anne, her husband (a brutish nincompoop), her spoilt, nasty daughter Lady Eleanor and Thaddeus, the serf close to Lady Anne. The village, on Lady Anne's instruction, seals itself off from the rest of the land in order to keep the deadly disease out. The claustrophobic conditions and the fear of running out of food cause much tension amongst the villagers, resulting in Thaddeus leaving with several young men. Their plan is to discover the progression of the disease as well as procuring food for the community.
Instead of the anticipated thrills and chills I found the read a slog and didn't finish the book. Sorry...

I was provided with an ARC of this book for my Kindle thanks to NetGalley. As I read the book, I was struck by how well written it was. In many ways, it reminded me of A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman (which I read many years ago). The characters were written in such a way that I felt I knew them personally.

A number of reviewers felt that the characters were flat, with very little dimension or development. I disagree. Further, I’d like to remind those readers that the British are famously “emotionless” in their behavior. Lady Anne’s reserved, seeming inability to express her emotions was driven by the necessity that she appear strong and imperturbable. That said, I would have liked a bit more exploration of character histories and motivations.

The descriptions were such that I felt I could actually be there, though I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be. I could see what was happening. I could feel the emotions of the players. Truly, as I read this book, which was very difficult to put down, I had every intention of giving it 5 stars. To me, it was extremely compelling. I became fully invested in all of the characters of the story and anxiously awaited what I hoped would be an inspiring conclusion.

And therein is the reason for a four-star review rather than a five-star one. I was so disappointed to reach the end of the story and discover that it wasn't really the end. Now, I don't know if this author plans to follow up with a sequel, though at least one other reviewer mentions she does. I suppose it would begin with the end of the plague and the beginning of new lives. But, the fact that I was left in such confusion, feeling as if I was had no idea what would happen to my “friends,” left me feeling extremely disappointed. For that reason, I can only give this book 4 stars, and that really bothers me because it was worth so much more.

Grim, historical account of how The Black Death swept through the towns and countryside in 1348. In an effort to stop the disease spreading into her community, Lady Anne basically draws up the drawbridge of her Develish community (set in Dorset), and we are left with how the villagers learn to cope with lack of food etc. I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say the writer gives a convincing historical account of that period with limited medical knowledge and a reliance on God. I was used to reading and enjoying Minette Walters' murder books, and credit to her for this departure.