I love well-written and researched historical fiction stories that you can learn about history in a much more engaging way than dry academic textbooks, and especially crime or mysteries. This book falls into all my favourite categories.

Living in the COVID world as we are at the moment, this book has many parallels of the restrictions and growing death toll we are facing every day and a reminder that plagues and pandemics are a major feature of human history. This story is very atmospheric and visual with a lot of graphic detail The filthy conditions of London in the 1600's and the stark contrast between the treatment of rich and poor, and master and servant are very well portrayed along with the deaths and 'experiments'.

Symon, the rector of a London Church, is not a particularly strong or perhaps even likable character sometimes who not totally willingly joins a very disparate group of 'medical' men trying to find a cure for the plague as he has access to dead bodies they can use for experiments. Add in a dark and mysterious figure who is doing some atrocious things to sufferers of the plague then murdering them and the very interesting female character of Penelope, who can 'hear' the dead and you have an engaging crime thriller, with a little touch of Gothic, that will have you turning the pages quickly.

The Plague Letters by V.Valentine

I have always been fascinated by the Plague since visiting Eyam as a child and have found other novels set in plague times, like "A year of wonders" fascinating. So coupled with this fascination and the potential parallels of the pandemic we are all living through now, it was an intriguing prospect.

The novel has as its main characters, a priest called Symon, who is in love with a married lady who has escaped to the Essex countryside to avoid the plague in London, and Penelope, a slightly mysterious young woman who has survived plague and has a propensity to see and hear the dead. Symon is a member of a secret society made up of a medic, an apothecary, a dodgy faith healer and himself as a local clergyman. They have decided that with his help in his capacity of officiator over the burial of the dead in a plague pit near his church, he can help them find corpses to experiment on to try to find a cure for the plague. Symon is not very enthusiastic and becomes even less so when it becomes apparent that someone is murdering those suffering from plague and torturing them prior to that, carving up their buboes and inserting strange items and drawing things on them. As one of the first victims turns out to be an ex servant of Symon's, he feels responsible.

The book provides a gruesome description of life in London during this time, with the numbers of infected and dead gradually creeping up. Between chapters there are regular statistics of these and a map showing the growing spread through London. Although Covid 19 is not as deadly as bubonic plague, with our daily statistics of rising cases and sadly, rising fatalities, it makes this setting more close to reality than previously. The writer describes how people were crowded into a coffee tavern despite the Kings proclamation that they should not do so. Clearly a parallel with some people not social distancing or wearing masks in the 21st century.

It is essentially a murder mystery and a chase to find the murderer in an increasingly risky environment with contagion all around. Symon suffers some loss himself along the way and both he and Penelope are in danger from the perpetrator. The book was well written and despite being historical is very accessible.

I was confused by the title as the letters in question are a fairly minor part of the plot, being letters between Symon and the lady he loves in Essex and are not really related to the murder mystery. Aside from that, it is an entertaining, slightly gruesome and interesting read for fans of historical thrillers.

We all need a Penelope in our lives I think!!!

Someone,is out there,using the cover of the plague,to murder victims in strange medical experiments.
Its clever,but unfortunately its also noticed.
Our main character Symon is a bit of a wet blanket,that at times needed a good shake.
The rest of the unlikely plague group,were at times farcical.... they made me smile anyway.
Enjoyable ride through the infested streets of london,with memorable characters.



Review to be posted at later date.