Rating: 4/5
Review:
A good story but historically questionable
I enjoyed The Last Hours overall. Set in Dorset in 1348
at the outbreak of The Black Death, this is a story of the people - mainly
bonded serfs - of a single demesne and the effect on them of the disease's devastation
of the population elsewhere. It is a
fascinating time to set a story because it was a time of complete social
upheaval and change as the old certainties of the feudal system broke down. Minette Walters gives us a colourful cast of
characters and she tells a very good story which kept me interested for the
full 550 pages.
My difficulties with the book lay in the thinking and
attitudes of these repressed 14th-Century characters with almost no
knowledge of the world beyond their village, who, for example, often espouse
very modern social attitudes of equality and respect for all people – ideas
which they would have found almost impossible to formulate, let alone
articulate. They also make medical and
scientific deductions which eluded the most brilliant of minds until many
centuries later – and this at a time when all learning came from ancient
authorities like Aristotle and Galen; the notion of actually observing what was
happening and thinking about it was completely alien. And as for the theological rebellions… a friend of mine has summed this type of
thing up as having "contemporary characters in mediaeval fancy
dress," which I think puts it perfectly.
Nonetheless, Walters tells a good, compelling tale in very
readable prose so I eventually tried to ignore the anachronistic problems (not
always successfully) and just enjoy the story.
It is plainly the beginning of a long saga; I'm not agog for the next
episode, but I'll probably read it when it comes out. Cautiously recommended.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
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