Review: 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal

1666 was a watershed year for England. The outbreak of the Great Plague, the eruption of the second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London all struck the country in rapid succession and with devastating repercussions.

Shedding light on these dramatic events, historian Rebecca Rideal reveals an unprecedented period of terror and triumph. Based on original archival research and drawing on little-known sources, 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire takes readers on a thrilling journey through a crucial turning point in English history, as seen through the eyes of an extraordinary cast of historical characters.

While the central events of this significant year were ones of devastation and defeat, 1666 also offers a glimpse of the incredible scientific and artistic progress being made at that time, from Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity to Robert Hooke's microscopic wonders. It was in this year that John Milton completed Paradise Lost, Frances Stewart posed for the now-iconic image of Britannia, and a young architect named Christopher Wren proposed a plan for a new London - a stone phoenix to rise from the charred ashes of the old city.

I studied this period for my History A Level, and have always had an interest in seventeenth-century history, so this book appealed to me. What I hadn't necessarily expected was what an easy, delightful read it would be, and how many dots joined up, not only in terms of putting the Second Dutch War in context with what was going on in England at the time, but also the way the author rounds off all the stories included here and tells us the fate of those involved.

The opening pages give a taste of what's to come. We get a description of everyday London life, but instead of vague 'would have' or 'probably' statements, we get the details of real people, who are named as they go about their lives. There are also fascinating snippets: I had no idea that (if one had the money) it was possible to have water piped directly into one's home during this period.

The first section of the book concerns the plague and we are told how, initially, there seemed no cause for alarm. The playhouses stayed open, but then people got scared and began to leave. Again, we are furnished with details using witness accounts. Mentioned by name are the Howlett and Mitchell families. Surviving the plague, they return to London and Betty Howlett marries Michael Mitchell. They set up shop close to where I know the Great Fire wreaked devastation. I really hoped that we'd meet them again.

Ms Rideal doesn't just tell us what happened, she tells us about the everyday world but in a purposeful way, without going off at tangents. She might set the scene by describing a London park and how it was laid out at the time, but this is by way of introducing a character who had a part to play in events.

Part Two details the war and the descriptions of the naval battles are excellent, again drawn from witness accounts. The military strategies (those which worked and those which didn't) are explained clearly and at no point was I confused about who was whom. Along the way, we are introduced to characters whose names are familiar, such as Aphra Benn, recruited initially as a - rather unsuccessful, as it turns out - spy. 

Then, the Great Fire. And again, detail that surprised. I didn't know that St Paul's was already in a bad state of repair and was clad in scaffolding before the conflagration destroyed it. We have the detailed account from a young boy, William Taswell, as well as those from the likes of Samuel Pepys. We even get details about the early life of Thomas Farriner, at whose bakery the fire started and we learn that he had been in and out of correctional institutions before finally being apprenticed to a baker. Such information reminds us that this is a story about people, not just facts and statistics. The ordinary folk of London are given prominence, although we still get plenty of rich detail about the more recognisable people - Newton, Pepys, Aphra Benn, Rochester - and it really brings the history to life.

The human story is also apparent in the closing chapters. We learn of the complications (legal as well as practical) of rebuilding London, and the after-effects of living through such times. Those who'd survived plague, war and fire show symptoms of what we'd now recognise as PTSD. But many also suffered from guilt - that they had personally or collectively brought disaster upon themselves.

Of course, 1666 wasn't all about catastrophe. There is a wonderful example of scene-setting which introduces Newton's moment under the apple tree. It's informative and evocative and made me think that should the author ever decide to write a novel, it would be excellent.

The epilogue details what became of the people mentioned along the way, and so we find out about the later lives of Pepys, Charles II, Nell Gwynn etc. But, satisfyingly, we also discover the fate of Michael and Betty Mitchell.

Informative, well-researched, beautifully written and very accessible. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this period. Or actually, just to anyone who fancies a damn good read.

Buy 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire:
Amazon UK
Amazon US 

Review: Written in their Stars by Elizabeth St. John

I was privileged and delighted to receive an advance review copy of the latest book by Elizabeth St. John

London, 1649. Horrified eyewitnesses to King Charles’s bloody execution, Royalists Nan Wilmot and Frances Apsley plot to return the king’s exiled son to England’s throne, while their radical cousin Luce, the wife of king-killer John Hutchinson, rejoices in the new republic’s triumph. Nan exploits her high-ranking position as Countess of Rochester to manipulate England’s great divide, flouting Cromwell and establishing a Royalist spy network; while Frances and her husband Allen join the destitute prince in Paris’s Louvre Palace to support his restoration. As the women work from the shadows to topple Cromwell’s regime, their husbands fight openly for the throne on England’s bloody battlefields.
But will the return of the king be a victory, or destroy them all? Separated by loyalty and bound by love, Luce, Nan and Frances hold the fate of England—and their family—in their hands.
A true story based on surviving memoirs of Elizabeth St.John's family, Written in their Stars is the third novel in the Lydiard Chronicles series.

This is, as the blurb says, the third in the Lydiard Chronicles and one thing I would say at the outset is that ideally readers should acquaint themselves with this family by reading the first two in the series. Reading this book as a standalone is perfectly possible, as Ms St. John makes it clear who everyone is, and offers appropriate backstory where necessary. But to skip the first two books is to miss the nuance, and the development of the characters who now play out the final part of this rich and detailed story.

At the centre of this story is the divided loyalties of a family torn apart by civil war, the continuing struggle for peace and resolution of all conflict, political and personal. This is not so easy for, as one character says, "The war has not ended, not while the king breathes and hope beats in men’s hearts.”

Luce, Nan and Frances have different experiences of life, love, and war, yet they are bound together, and not just by their family connections. They are women who find a way to live through such historic times, and to protect what is dear to them. Sometimes this sees them working together, and sometimes it throws them into conflict. And this is a perfect time for me now to talk about the author's skills.

There is a section of the book where Frances has reason to turn against Nan and the drama works brilliantly because Ms St. John allows only us, the reader, to know the truth.

She is also a master of scene-setting, so that we can see the characters in action and in context. She never forgets who else is in the room and allows for interaction. I particularly liked the distracting chatter at the moment Frances is put at odds with Nan, and when Barbary Villiers is being spoken to by Nan but is constantly trying to look over Nan's shoulder to try to attract the attention of the king. Such little touches bring the tableaux to life.

We aren't just reading about these people, we can see them. We watch the scenes unfolding. The characters so inhabit their world that it's exactly as we assume it was. Yes, this is how 17th-century people moved, spoke, felt. Nothing is anachronistic, nothing jars or jolts us back to the present.

And the author achieves this in a way that makes it look effortless. She has an economy of phrase and yet manages to drop the reader right into the 17th-century world. The dialogue is realistic and appropriate. While the politics direct the wider stage, the story remains personal. We really feel for this family riven by war and divided loyalties.

The book is evidently well-researched. The author knows her history but her characters know it too and there is no clumsy exposition. Everything just flows. It would have been easy for Ms St. John to dump a lot of information (she is a direct descendant of the family) and to let the documented history speak for itself, yet whilst we are reading about people who actually lived, we are also reading about characters who have been brought to life by the authors's research, imagination, and creative pen. Had these all been purely fictional characters, they would still have felt real.

On a side note, since I'm talking about real history, there was a moment in the book where I thought, 'Did that really happen? If it's true, it is shocking and appalling.' And yes, sadly, it is; a terrible and stark reminder of the dangers these people faced. When it is pointed out that two characters speak of “Old history in these times, sir,” the reply comes, “And yet memories are long.”

And just when we think all will be well come the restoration, the reality hits. Not everyone will be forgiven (particularly the king-killers). Perhaps it is naive to hope for a happy ending? The outcome, though, is not a foregone conclusion and the drama and tension continue to the very end. In some ways, hidebound by the historical fact, the author cannot offer a happy-ever-after resolution and yet, here at the end of this remarkable trilogy, the ends of the threads are tied up beautifully. 

Of course, along the way, and again sticking to the known facts, Ms St. John must deliver some bad news from time to time. No spoilers, but again, with a breath-taking economy of words, she made me cry.

You can find the book:
Kobo, Apple, Nook:   https://books2read.com/u/mZBDw5  
Amazon:  https://geni.us/MyBookWITS

June Guest Post by Trisha Hughes: End of the Stuart Era

Whether by bad health or bad luck, the Stuart dynasty came to an end with the death of Queen Anne. There would still be Stuart blood pulsing through the veins of coming generations: George I’s great grandfather was James I after all. But it was the Stuart dynasty itself that had failed to continue with Anne’s death.

James VI & I

The Stuart dynasty began with Robert II in 1371 and although we grow up with children’s stories that give us a picture of kings, queens and fairy tale princesses in medieval Scotland, the reality was far from being a fairy tale. Many died ‘mysteriously’ and many died simply trying to protect themselves and their family.

Despite this, the Stuarts endured through the centuries. They survived wars, crusades, bouts of the plague, smallpox, a great fire, murder and ill health. But when looking back over the last four generations of Stuart kings, each one seems to have been precarious. After Elizabeth I’s death, it was Mary Queen of Scots’ son James who would become James I of England in 1603 when he was 36 years old. His weak legs remain unexplained, as do episodes of jaundice, and a shrunken kidney at his post mortem explains the evidence of blood and tiny stones in his urine. From 1616 he was disabled from arthritis, and began showing a dementia six years before he died. The possibility that his thyroid glands were not functioning properly has been a recent speculation.

The story of James I’s children does not make for easy reading. First there was Henry, Prince of Wales who was intellectually remarkable but died of typhoid in 1612 at 18-years-old. Four of James’ children had died before they reached the age of 2 and his granddaughter-in-law, Catherine of Braganza, failed to produce a child despite the many illegitimate children that her husband Charles II was able to father out of wedlock. It would be James’ daughter Elizabeth who would marry the Protestant Prince Elector of Hanover and of her two children, one would die of pleurisy while the only surviving daughter Sophia would live to give birth to the future King George I of England. Perhaps it was fate, not just ill health, that severed the line from future generations, given that the decapitation of Charles I was not truly a surgical procedure.

Charles I & Henrietta Maria

With each generation, it wasn’t just producing an heir that was a problem. It was keeping the heirs alive as well. James I lost 5 children, as did his sons Charles I and James II. And then we know of the miscarriages Catherine suffered and the horrors that Anne endured after losing 17 children during years of her own ill health.

No one can agree why Queen Anne’s health had been so bad for so long. She was, after all, only 49 years old when she died. Sure she was overweight, which everyone knew caused difficulty during births. But lots of overweight women had children. Hughes syndrome, an autoimmune disease affecting the blood, has been suggested, even porphyria, which can potentially cause recurrent miscarriages and is also associated with other complications such as premature birth and stillbirth. And don’t forget that James I more than likely suffered from porphyria and passed it on to future generations.

So with Anne, the last of the Stuart dynasty died. Never again would there be a Stuart sitting on the throne of England. The volatile Hanoverians had arrived on English soil and life would be very different from the one that Parliament had imagined. They would find that compared to the Tudors and the Stuarts, the Hanoverians would be something of a hard sell with England. The German kings seemed cold and remote and if you asked anyone to disclose their private opinion, they would have said they were barbarians.

Although Hanoverian Britain was the hub of slave trade and exploration, this era is barely etched in our minds. Of course, there are exceptions. Hollywood has immortalised The Madness of King George but let’s not forget this was also Jane Austen’s era as well as the British Museum, the greatest architect Christopher Wren, Sir Isaac Newton, the cure for smallpox and the foundation of the press. It was an era for poets, painters, geniuses in Science, the arrival of tea and coffee, exotic fruit, fine wines, Indian silks and Chinese porcelain. Still, it is in danger of disappearing beyond our mental horizon even though it lasted longer than either the Tudor or the Stuart age.

It was an age when people experienced everything from passionate repulsion of some monarchs and delighted ardour for others. There were violent wars abroad and riots at home, expanding trade in the Far East and thankfully, the disappearance of the plague In Britain. London virtually glowed with increased capital and the middle class began to enjoy polished living standards.

During the early days of George I’s reign, a Jacobite uprising threatened his throne and although the Hanoverians were very unpopular, England supported their new German king.

George II

If you disregarded the Catholic Stuarts in France, the Hanoverians were all England had left.

Find more about Trisha Hughes on her Amazon Page

Her new book Virgin to Victoria is available now.