The Last Hours / Minette Walters

It's the summer of 1348 and the plague has reached England. The modest estate of Develish must deal with not only the sudden loss of their ignorant, tyrannical lord, but also a devastating disease that many view as divine punishment, right at their door. Fortunately, behind the moat, its inhabitants continue to benefit from the wise and benevolent rule of Lady Anne, a convent-educated natural leader whose invaluable knowledge of herbal medicine and advanced notions of hygiene has already vastly improved their lives.

Despite this relative safety, all is not well in Develish; being besieged by a deadly illness when no one knows where it came from, how it is transmitted, and how — or even if — it can be cured is talking a physical, mental and emotional toll. Tempers fray, jealousy rears up its ugly head, loyalties are tested. Then a boy is found stabbed to death early one morning, away from the post where he should have been mounting guard. Among those known to be present nearby during the night is Lady Eleanor, Sir Richard's illiterate, spoilt, petulant daughter, who has inherited her father's cruel streak and contempt for serfs.

The responsibility to inquire into this death falls to the boy's half-brother, Thaddeus Thurkell. Recently promoted to the position of Lady Anne's steward, this clever, strong, taciturn bondsman has long borne the stigma of his illegitimacy and the scorn of both his stepfather and Lady Eleanor. Given the delicate circumstances surrounding the murder and the rapidly dwindling stores, Thaddeus secretly decides to takes the five implicated boys with him on a dangerous expedition to acquire food and gather any information they can about the progress of the epidemic.

From this moment, we're privy to the mounting fear and distrust from two different but complementary points of view as we follow Thaddeus and the boys through corpse-filled villages and see how the Develish estate fares against rivals bent on its destruction. Both narratives explore, in a very raw, moving way, how people's true nature begins to emerge, as invariably happens in dire circumstances. It's fascinating to see characters and events from our modern vantage, knowing that this plague (and the ones that will occur in the following centuries) will kill so many, bringing about massive social and economic changes to societies and moulding what they are today.

I found The Last Hours absolutely gripping. It features a gallery of wonderfully drawn and masterfully developed characters. The scenes centering on Lady Eleanor's behaviour are especially chilling. The dialogues are tight and sharp, and there's REAL depth there. 

As well as tensions, this novel is rife with opposites that are brilliantly played against each other: wealth and poverty, wisdom and foolishness, humility and vanity, courage and cowardice, generosity and self-preservation, science and faith, agency and obedience, women and men, Saxons and French, etc. I believe this greatly contributes to making this complex world more tangible to us modern readers than the one-dimensional medieval setting we're too often served.

As for the ending... Well, you can tell the author is a crime novelist: THIS is how you do a cliffhanger! I loved this novel and look forward to what comes next. What will the future hold — and where — for the people of Develish?

I was provided with a free electronic copy of this book through NetGalley by the publisher, Harlequin - MIRA, in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ****