Maitland is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. I loved this quirky little tale, set against the backdrop of a medieval England beset by a spreading plague and steeped in mysticism and superstition. Against the background of this terrifying collapse of the world around them, the author assembles a company of nine strangers - all of them naturally itinerant travellers and all of them with a dark secret. As they set off on their journey, intent on escaping the disease, they are unaware that they take with them a malevolent evil intent on exposing their 'lies' and punishing them for them.
Also fascinating were the historical notes at the end of the book. That experts now believe that the Pestilance (Black Death) was not in fact one plague, but three. That because it didn't only kill humans but also dogs, horses, sheep and cattle and coupled with the onset of an extraordinary climate change which saw a year of rain, no summer and failing crops, as many people died in those years of starvation than disease. That the Chuch of the time declared it heresey to suggest werewolves and vampires didn't exist and, indeed, two of the Vatican's theories as to the rapid spread of plague was that it was a malevolent act of Jews or vampires...
A wonderful read. I look forward to more of Maitland's quirky, fascinating imagination soon.
LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
