Martin Collyer awakens, having survived the plague, to find his father dead and half-stitched in his shroud. Considering himself to spared by the miraculous intervention of his father’s beloved but obscure saint and wishing to atone for his father’s soul, Martin begins a pilgrimage to the saint’s shrine. Soon, however, the road proves dangerous and his accidently acquired and mysterious companion, Hob, soon proves himself untrustworthy. And why do so many mysterious deaths accompany them where they go?

There were a lot of aspects of Alis Hawkins’s The Black and the White that appealed to me. Martin’s desire to become a priest, the mysterious saint he’s devoted to, his fears of demons, the back drop of the Black Death. For me, the character of Martin and the world he inhabited were compelling and the slow pace of the story was fine.

What didn’t gel with me so well was the “mystery”. Hawkins tries to create tension with the possibility of Martin as an unreliable narrator yet his naivety is too compelling and well-established for it to feel anything but a plot device. This, in part, leads to the mystery feeling weak – the audience knows well before Martin what’s going on, and it’s hard to build tension and emotion about the deaths of a handful of briefly appearing characters (and sometimes not very nice ones) in a world where so many are dying of the plague. Other elements of mystery are added – is the saint real or a peddler’s story? What happened to Martin’s father? – but there’s no clear resolution for these strands, the reader is left to assume what the answer is.

I also found the ending rushed. Having spent so long with Martin, having found him a sympathetic if frustrating narrator, I wanted to spend a little longer with him to know what his life would be like in the aftermath. For me, The Black and the White was a less a mystery than a character study and, having become invested in Martin, I wanted to see how the discoveries of the last pages impacted him and what he would go on to become. And that he would go on and become something, even if it wasn’t what he thought it would be.

I do love a slow-burn historical mystery. And this one coming at the beginning of the pandemic meant that it was incredibly topical!

I always find Alis' characters relatable and fascinating, and those in The Black and the White were no different!

I love Alis and will always read anything she writes!

The book had quite a slow pace and did not pull me in which is often essential for me to keep on reading. I did my best and tried to read it to the end but I sadly had to eventually DNF it. It might have also been an issue of a timing (and the pandemic)

I actually really appreciated having a mystery in 1349, I found the mystery interesting and I was guessing till the end.

Though the book does start slowly the pace does pick up and it is worth finishing the characters are quite entertaining after a while

Highly recommend this novel as a perfect distraction especially in times of the pandemic in which we are currently living. Alis was able to create a landscape for me as a reader without being overly descriptive. I enjoyed the character development and she constantly kept me guessing for the next chapter. I enjoy novels that depict a time in history that I have no knowledge of so this book was a hit for me.

I foudn the start of this book very slow and very diffciult to get into. I found myself getting bored and almost DNF's the book after only 70 pages. It didn't pay off to keep reading but the pace did pick up. Overall, not for me.

Ok, first things first, I would say this is more slow-burn historical drama with slight hints of fantasy rather than a mystery novel or a crime thriller. If I’d have read the full blurb before going into it, I’d have likely been really disappointed, so I think this has been marketed badly if I’m honest. That’s not to say it isn’t a good book - it is, but it isn’t what you think you are getting and it doesn’t really do what it says on the label. The crime and murder elements are glossed over throughout, and whilst the reader can figure out something isn’t quite right, it takes our main character Martin close enough to the entirety of the novel to get there. He’s set up as a gullible, naive and really rather clueless character but it does mean that the reader has a very limited view on events. There isn’t the build up with whodunnit elements that you might expect to find in a mystery novels, the potential victims are forgotten about quickly and the novel is more focussed on the day to day life of our characters and the validity of the Saint that Martin carries than on any deaths, usual or unusual.

What this book does very well indeed is to propel you into 14th century England as the Black Death decimates the population, killing entire villages and leaving those few lucky enough to survive displaced and uncertain of their future. Martin, like many others, has lost his entire family to the death that swept through the lands, but unlike most he survived the Black Death. He awakes with the carved image of his father’s saint clutched in his hands, his father dead and cold beside him. His options being limited, he buries his father unshriven and in unconsecrated ground. Fearing for the fate of his father’s mortal soul, he begins a pilgrimage to a shrine nobody else has heard of, for a saint only his father seemed to pray to. So begins a novel that is a journey through human faith, resilience in crisis and psychology. It makes for an engaging and deep read that kept me turning the pages from beginning to end.

The era and the fears of the population are portrayed well, with the religious fervour that comes from both indoctrination and desperation in clear view. As is the civil unrest that builds as the feudalistic hierarchy of life is challenged In the wake of the shortages of labour that the Black Death brings. It’s a fascinating period of history and it comes to life around you as you read. Both Martin and his companion Hob are interesting characters and the novel revels in diving into the psychological aspects of their thoughts and behaviours. Martin’s naivety is counterbalanced by Hob’s more worldly view and the two characters worked well together, which is fortunate as they are the only two characters who stick around. Some of the individuals they meet on their pilgrimage are wonderfully idiosyncratic though and it’s a shame most of them are forgotten as soon as our two pilgrims move on for the next town or village.

What this isn’t however is a mystery or a whodunnit or a crime novel of any variety. It is an excellently written piece of character driven period drama, but that’s not how the author has chosen to portray it. There are only two characters who could possibly be responsible for the occasional suspicious deaths and despite some attempts at false trails and red herrings, the reader will have it pegged by the time the two leave the first town. There’s no real suspense or mystery. More importantly, the deaths are given so little importance for much of the narrative that it’s easy to gloss over them entirely. This is exacerbated by the fact that you don’t engage with any character other than Martin or Hobb for any length of time, so the reader simply doesn’t care about the death of a character who was going to disappear from the narrative in a chapter or two anyway.

So, I enjoyed this and found myself drawn to the narrative and the characters. I appreciated how the author dealt with the importance of religion and of hierarchy in the Middle Ages and felt the world come to life around me. But if you’re picking this up because you want a historical crime mystery, don’t. It’s just not that book. It’s excellent in its own right but I can’t help thinking that the author is setting some readers up for disappointment through mismarketing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.

At first I didn't think I was going to like this book at all - the cadence of the language seemed wrong for Medieval England. However, this was quickly dispelled and once into the story, it was extremely interesting. England in the 1340s, the Black Death stalks the land, laying waste to whole villages (quite prescient, given the current pandemic). Martin Collyer wakes to find he has somehow recovered from the plague which has taken all his family, and decides the reason is the saint that his father revered - St Cynryth, the White Maiden.

He resolves to take a large statue, which seems to have appeared from nowhere, to her shrine in the forest by Salster. On the way he meets Hob, a rather ruthless fellow, determined to make his fortune. The author portrays their journey well, arriving at villages devastated by plague or frightened they are bringing it with them. She shows the belief in saints and miracles so prevalent at that time, the desperation to find a way to preserve a family from the disease over which they had no power or understanding.

The story is different from the usual Medieval 'whodunnits' - there are no obvious murders to solve, although plenty of corpses! It paints a good picture of England during that terrible time, woven into an interesting tale.

The tale is told well and I enjoyed it very much.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sapere Books for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an Interesting read in our current situation. The corona virus is no Black Death but is a clever contrast with England collapsing with the Black Death in the 14th century. Martin is a young charcoal burner from the Forest of Dean who has lost all his family and his priest who he looked up to. He decides to take a beautiful carving of Saint Cynryth, an Anglo Saxon saint he worships, back to Kent where he believes that there is a shrine to her. The journey is long and arduous through villages destroyed by the plague and forests full of danger. Martin meets up with a runaway serf called Hob who says he is a Knight’s bastard son. Hob takes over the journey and the saint and makes money out of Martin’s belief where and whenever he can. The journey is beautifully and realistically told but sadly the end is sad and frustrating as Hob is a violent chancer who almost kills Martin and swaps identities with him whist Martin is in a coma through his injuries. Does his saint or his dead father come and save him or is he hallucinating after the shocking attack.
We have to make our own minds up after a well told story with frightening events mixed with beautiful details of the journey leaves us wanting answers but are there ever any when faith mixes with people who use belief for their own

It has a slow start that works against it. Once things get going (+/- 30% of the ebook) they get interesting, engaging, and mostly entertaining. Not to mention that the theme of the plague is very timely. That said, the resolution felt disappointing.

This book is a long one and the story takes a long time to get going. To be honest it felt like a bit of a ramble around medieval England with no real aim in sight. The descriptions are vivid and the characters likeable but I couldn’t get into this one I’m afraid, it simply lacked a strong plot.

Martin Collyer wakes alone in a charcoal burner's hut in the Forest of Dean. The plague is running riot in England. He remembers the last rites but nothing more. How is he still alive? He attributes this to a miracle and sets off of a journey (both physical and spiritual) to give thanks for being spared. He meets Hob Cleve on his way & although thankful for company he cannot quite settle with the man.
I struggled with this book. I found it slow & the characters quite wooden. I enjoy books set in this time period & am a big fan of Karen Maitland and of the new series by Minette Walters. I felt that this book fell a long way short of their brilliant works.
The book lacked atmosphere and realism. I didn't feel that I was part of this and it never became three dimensional to me. The story dragged and I just didn't take to the characters. Martin wasn't very bright, interesting or cautious whilst Hob was manipulative and nasty. The supporting cast really didn't trouble my memory.
This book just didn't work for me on so many levels. It didn't come to life and wasn't particularly interesting.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Martin’ awakes after battling the pestilence, and hails his survival a miracle; not least because his father, who had cared for him, has died, and apparently sewn himself in to his own shroud. Of course, his father’s body is buried in unconsecrated grounds, and Martin must now go on pilgrimage to save his soul from eternal damnation.

Along the way Martin shares the tale of his family’s Saint, reluctantly showing off her statue, which he is carting across country. Along the way he teams up with an unlikely ally, Hob, and it soon becomes clear he may not be all he’s cracked up to be.

What follows is a long and meandering traipse across Medieval England, which at times felt exceptionally dull. Sections of the story were very laboured, and the temptation to skip ahead was too great to ignore., which meant I did skip paragraphs detailing fields, tracks and the flights of birds. Had the rest of the story been pacier, it wouldn’t have mattered, but the whole thing was a bit of a struggle.

I don’t know if I missed something along the way (though, I assure you, I didn’t skip that much!) but I have so many unanswered questions at the end. Too much was left, the ending was disappointing, and it all feels set up for a sequel, which just isn’t needed.

All in all, I felt this wasn’t the book it was set up to be, which means my expectations weren’t met. This isn’t generally my type of genre, and the blurb convinced me this could work, but what I read just doesn’t marry with the description, so I feel duped.

This was just ok for me, there were times I was bored as it is a very slow burner and thats not a bad thing but I found myself thinking it would be nice if it stayed on point as seemed to jump around a lot. This could be that the timing of this book to be released is actually quite related to current day events with Covid 19 so I feel its unfair to say its not a good read. It was OK but maybe not the right time?

Princess Fuzzypants here: Martin has been saved from The Black Death and sets out on a pilgrimage to return his father’s chosen saint to the place of its origin across the country. He meets up with Hob who saves his life and protects him but Hob’s motives are anything but holy. He sees the icon as a means to secure his fortune and he seems to be prepared to do anything to make sure he gets there.
He even convinces Martin that he is being beset by a demon while he sleeps. Martin now wonders if he has killed perhaps even his own father. His doubts cloud his judgement until one night it all becomes clear. For Martin, that is when the trouble really starts. He discovers just how far Hob will go to reach his goals.
It is a story that starts off slow and heavy but gets more exciting as the journey continues. The reader gets pulled into the horrors of the time: violence, pestilence and superstition. While well done with an exciting finish, it may not be a story for those house bound with COVID 19. But then again, perhaps it helps us realize people have had it far worse than us.
Four purrs and two paws up.

I really enjoyed this book. A good story, well designed characters that you can really get to know. Good narrative in keeping with the time period and an incredibly well described environment. Historical fiction fans will lap it up.

It took me a little while to fall into the rhythm of Martin’s narrative in this story.

We start with the shock opening of Martin’s apparent recovery from death and his father’s submission to it, but then begin a very slow procession with Martin as he sets off on a pilgrimage to take his father’s saint – Saint Cynryth – to her northern shrine to beg for his father’s safe passage to heaven.

The factual details of the story are fascinating, as the author has clearly thoroughly researched the period and effects of the Black Death plague in England, and the work of a charcoal burner. Similarly, the intricacies of faith and rituals of the time are faithfully represented and we see the opposing attitudes most starkly outlined by Martin and Hob: the one devout, if plagued by doubts, and the other bitter and cynical. These aspects provide a strong and realistic frame for the plot of the story.

Sly Hob and naive Martin’s pairing as travel-buddies reminded me very much of Oliver and The Artful Dodger. Time and again we see Martin question his companion’s trustworthiness, only to find Hob has a plausible explanation and is saddened by the suspicions of his good friend. Then, when poor Martin is sent further trials of his faith, we discover that he cannot even trust himself, as his senses and memory may be playing him false. This constant atmosphere of mounting fear and suspicion begins to slowly drive Martin insane as he attempts to cleave to his goal, and he takes the reader with him into his spiral downwards.

There are quite a few questions and mysteries here. How did Martin recover when his father died? Has the plague mutated, or is there another cause of death following the young men from town to town? Is Saint Cynryth a genuine saint, or a peddlar’s con? Is Martin possessed by a demon, or in the company of one? Most of these were answered by the ending, but the overall resolution of the story left me surprised and disappointed, as it didn’t seem to fit with the tone and overall direction of the rest of the narrative.

This is a very slow-paced story of faith and doubt, and the challenges faced by the faithful during times of crisis, which feels very appropriate to our current world situation. The mystery elements are quite sparse and scattered, with lots of painfully trudging travel in between, which made the book seem like a bit of a long trek to a dispiriting conclusion. If I had picked this up as a historical fiction account of plague and faith, I would likely have enjoyed it, but as a historical murder mystery, I felt it didn’t quite fulfil the promises of the blurb and cover.





Coughing wakes me again. The pain of it is like a blade, its edges chipped and jagged, cleaving my chest, tearing up through my gullet. And the very sound — the hack of it — takes me home. Back to our house in Lysington, back to my sweat-soaked bed and my father’s hand holding a cup of water. The memory rips a greater pain through me, the pain of pestilence, deaths, burials.
My father’s hand held the cup because my mother is dead. They are all dead. My family. All dead.
A cold terror raises the flesh on my scalp. I was dead, too.

– Alis Hawkins, The Black and the White


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

**First up: I'd actually give this 3.5 stars, but can't see how to do so **

The timing of this book couldn't be more apt! Reading this in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic made me draw (not for the first time) parallels with the spread of previous infectious diseases in our country - and the attitudes and behaviour of some people.

I enjoyed the book, in fact I was glued to it as the plot unfolded and our travellers made their way slowly but surely in pursuit of their goal - but the whole thing was let down by the ending. It felt rushed and I was greatly disappointed. Maybe there will be a sequel to redress the balance and tie up loose ends? If not, I can't really understand why the finale book seemed so hurriedly finished.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

This novel, set in England 1n 1349, is the story of Martin Collyer and his pilgrimage across England during the Black Death. He joins up with a fellow traveller - Hob Cleve - but there is something not quite right about their relationship and when it breaks down there are dreadful consequences. Hawkins vividly describes this dreadful period as we follow our travellers from one village to the next and by the end of their journey we can fully understand and share their fear. Yes, it's a grim read but Martin Collyer's faith and conviction in what is he is doing gives an uplifting counterweight to offset all the death and devastation. There is always hope.