THREE MORE NOVELS SET IN THE 14TH CENTURY

Plague Land SD Sykes (2014)

OOswald de Lacy ssurvives the Black DDeath but his life is irrevocably changed bby it. The deaths of hhis father and older bbrothers mean that thet young man must take charge of the family estate. No sooner has he done so than a woman is murdered and the village priest begins to spread stories about demonic, dog-headed killers. In Sykes’s clever and intriguing historical crime novel, Oswald needs to overcome superstition and reveal the truth.

Now Is the Time Melvyn Bragg (2015)

TThis story of the 1381 PPeasants’ Revolt by nnovelist and broadccaster Melvyn Bragg ffocuses on its two leaders. Visionary ppriest John Ball is convincedc that God is on the side of the rebels, while charismatic ex-soldier Wat Tyler is determined to present his grievances to the boy king Richard II, son of the Black Prince for whom Tyler fought. The defeat of their cause is movingly conveyed in a powerful narrative.

The Plague Charmer Karen Maitland (2016)

TThirteen years after tthe arrival of the Black DDeath in England, the hhorrors of the pesttilence are still fresh in the minds of many oof the inhabitants of PorlockP Weir, a fishing villageill on theh ExmoorE coast. When rumours of a new outbreak of the plague reach the villagers, they look for any means of warding off the disease. In Karen Maitland’s offbeat, absorbing novel, even the bizarre bargain offered by the eponymous ‘plague charmer’ may be worth consideration.