Minette Walters

Second in a great historical fiction series.

The Turn of Midnight


My review -

The book follows directly from The Last Hours and both cover the time around and immediately after the Black Death strikes England. The devastation of the country is so well portrayed here and the arrogance of the ruling Norman classes and the church. This leads the serfs to assume they themselves are responsible for the deaths. They are God’s judgement for sin. Lady Anne is motivated by science, in the sense that she knows the plague is a contagion and that it can be defeated by isolation. She also points out that innocent children died so casts doubt that it was punishment. This brings her into conflict with those clerics left alive. She is portrayed as a very charismatic figure, especially in comparison to others of the ruling class. The writing puts us into the medieval mindset and brings the despair and devastation alive for the reader. The serf-born Thaddeus Thurkell is still, to me, an enigmatic figure and I long for another book to explain his origins. The Turn of Midnight is a fantastic read and I was glued to it. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance review copy.

Minette Walters

It's been a while since I read a Minette Walters and this is a new direction for her. I love this period of history (the Black Death) so it's right up my street.

The Last Hours

Amazon.com link

My review -

The story takes place over a few months, after the great plague, the Black Death, comes to Britain. Sir Richard of Develish sets out with his retinue and much of his gold, to visit a neighbour with the intention of sealing a marriage for his daughter, Eleanor. The men fall sick and very few return to Develish, where Richard’s wife, lady Anne, refuses them entry for two weeks, to ensure the sickness doesn’t enter the moated settlement. Richard and all his followers but one, a serf, die of the plague. The hero of the tale is the bastard son of a serf, never acknowledged by his mother’s husband, and visibly different from all around him, being very tall, dark haired and olive skinned.

The richness of this story is in the detail. The corruption of the church, the total hold the lord has over those serfs in his demesne, the arrogance of the Norman French in their dealings with the local people, are very well presented. The surviving serfs, solely responsible for growing and harvesting the vital crops, are in many places starving themselves to death because their lords have gone north to try to escape the sickness, leaving their slaves to await their return in terror of being held to account for missing sheep and crops. The book is very compelling, filled with rich characters and a believable storyline. There’s more to come and I’ll be delighted when it’s ready. I want to pick it up and follow these people and their lives.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher from whom I received an advance copy for review.