Book: The Last Hours
Author: Minette Walters
Reviewed by: Samantha Keogh
Review made possible by: Penguin Random House South Africa
Send the kids to their grandparents and the significant other on a boys’ / girls’ weekend, make sure your schedule is clear and get comfy, because once you start you won’t put this one down until you’ve read the last word.
It’s 1348, the Black Death has arrived in England and no one is sure how it arrived or how it is being spread.
All they know is that it’s killing everyone who gets infected in the most putrid way, and that staying alive has suddenly become a very tall order.
While the church proclaims it a punishment from God, Lady Anne of Develish has different ideas.
With her brutal husband absent, she decides on more sensible ways to protect her people than the daily confessions of sin recommended by the bishop.
Anne gathers her serfs within the gates of Develish and refuses entry to outsiders, even her husband who dies in the nearby village from his puss-filled boils.
Also read: Book review: Origin
Although she makes an enemy of her daughter by doing so, her resolve is strengthened by the support of her leading serfs, who respect her and value the rules – including rigorous cleanliness and the digging of latrines as far from the living quarters as possible – she puts in place to prevent the disease from crossing the moat surrounding Develish.
When food stocks begin to run low, Anne’s steward and five teenage boys venture across the moat, into the unknown, to seek news of the plague – has it killed everyone in the outside world and is the danger over?
They also need to find food if their people are to live much longer.
Walters weaves a compelling tale of suspense as the people of Devilish fight to survive against both the plague and travellers seeking to steal their food and wealth.
Also read: Mythos
Transporting the reader back almost 700 years, Walters presents a superb tale woven around the historical facts about the Black Death.
The Last Hours is a riveting tale of human ingenuity and endurance in the face of one of the most devastating pandemics in human history.
This one should definitely be on your list of books to read in 2018.
