![No image available](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/i/en20/no-book-image.png)
![No image available](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/i/en20/no-book-image.png)
The Last Hours
by WALTERS MINETTE
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Leicester, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Allen & Unwin, 2017. First Edition. Hard Cover. Dust Jacket. Signed by Author. First UK Edition. SIGNED COPY. Publisher's blue boards with gilt spine lettering. A fine (or better) copy in like D/W. Signed by the Author on the title page.
Reviews
On Oct 28 2017, CloggieDownunder said:
The Last Hours is the eighteenth novel by British author, Minette Walters, and is a departure from her usual genre of crime/psychological thriller: this one is historical fiction. It's June 1348, and the Plague has just arrived in England. The population is completely unprepared for the devastation this disease will wreak, but a scant few demesnes are better equipped to handle it than most. A Saxon, Lady Anne of Develish in Dorsetshire was raised by nuns; she has been quietly running the demesne in an efficient and compassionate way underneath the radar of her cruel Norman husband.
Sir Richard of Develish departs for another demesne to set up his spoilt fourteen-year-old daughter in an advantageous marriage but Gyles Startout, Anne's informant in Richard's retinue, soon realises there is a sickness afflicting the nearby village. Potent and virulent, it appears to be something that kills quickly with few survivors. By the time Sir Richard decides to return to Develish, its already too late for many of his party.
In response to an announcement from the Bishop of Sarum regarding "A Black Death", Anne takes the unconventional step of bringing the demesne's bondsmen to live on the land contained within the moat that Sir Richard had, in his vanity, built as a folly. Her plan to isolate them from the rest of the population is a revolutionary measure that proves to be the salvation of Develish and its serfs.
On her husband's return, she insists on his party being quarantined, a move that angers young Lady Eleanor and also attracts censure from Hugh de Courtesmain, Sir Richard's Norman steward. As does her later appointment of a serf as Steward. Thus they survive, free of the pestilence, for some months, but how long will they last on the food they have stored? And how will they avoid attack from raiding parties? Then a teenaged boy dies, and Anne's steward takes drastic action.
Walters gives the reader a fascinating look into the mid-fourteenth Century, bringing history to life in what is obviously the product of extensive research. Her characters are complex, human and flawed. They have secrets and doubts and weaknesses and their actions result in plenty of intrigue. Walters explores not just the ordeal of surviving the plague, but also, surviving in a world drastically changed, with a population so severely depleted that the very dynamic between serf and master is altered.
While is does not exactly end in a cliff-hanger, there are several matters left unresolved by the final twists, and the last pages reveal that there will be a sequel, which is unfortunately not slated for publication until October 2018, so readers have to wait a year to learn the further fates of Anne and Gyles and Thaddeus and Isabella. Walters has proven without any shadow of doubt that she has much more than one string to her bow. A brilliant read.
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 355490720337
- Title
- The Last Hours
- Author
- WALTERS MINETTE
- Format/Binding
- Hard Cover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Jacket Condition
- Dust Jacket
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Allen & Unwin
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2017
Terms of Sale
James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
We can personally take Visa, Mastercard and debit/Maestro cards. All books are are returnable if found not to be as described, please contact us first. James M Pickard (Rare Books) is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).
About the Seller
James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
Biblio member since 2006
Leicester
About James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
James M Pickard (Rare Books) is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...