Wednesday, 25 July 2018
A Plague on Mr Pepys by Deborah Swift
Series:
Women of Pepys Diary Series #2
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: July 5th 2018
Publisher: Accent Press
The second
novel in the series based on the different women in Samuel Pepys’s famous
diary.
Sometimes the pursuit of money costs too much...
Ambitious Bess Bagwell is determined that her carpenter husband, Will, should make a name for himself in the Navy shipyards. To further his career, she schemes for him to meet Samuel Pepys, diarist, friend of the King and an important man in the Navy.
But Pepys has his own motive for cultivating the attractive Bess, and it's certainly not to benefit her husband. Bess soon finds she is caught in a trap of her own making.
Sometimes the pursuit of money costs too much...
Ambitious Bess Bagwell is determined that her carpenter husband, Will, should make a name for himself in the Navy shipyards. To further his career, she schemes for him to meet Samuel Pepys, diarist, friend of the King and an important man in the Navy.
But Pepys has his own motive for cultivating the attractive Bess, and it's certainly not to benefit her husband. Bess soon finds she is caught in a trap of her own making.
As the summer heat rises, the Great Plague has London in its grip. Red crosses mark the doors, wealthy citizens flee and only the poor remain to face the march of death.
With
pestilence rife in the city, all trade ceases.
With no work
as a carpenter, Will is forced to invest in his unscrupulous cousin Jack's
dubious 'cure' for the pestilence which horrifies Bess and leaves them deeper
in debt.
Now they are
desperate for money and the dreaded disease is moving ever closer. Will Mr
Pepys honour his promises or break them? And will they be able to heal the
divide that threatens to tear their marriage apart?
EXTRACT
London, March 1663
‘Here’s the address,’
Bess said, pressing the paper down on the table in front of her husband. She
patted him on the shoulder, which released a puff of dust. Will was a fine
figure of a man – tall and blond, with arms muscled from lifting timber, and
the fine-boned hands of a craftsman, but his clothes were always full of
sawdust and wood-shavings.
He turned and smiled, with an expression that said he was
ready to humour her.
‘It’s on the other side of the Thames, close to one of the
shipyards. Big houses all round. A nice neighbourhood. Quiet.’
‘Where?’ Will asked, standing to pick up the paper, and
stooping from habit because their attic room was so low.
‘Deptford.’ She held her breath.
‘Deptford?’ he said, throwing it back down. ‘We’re not
living in Deptford.’
‘Oh, Will, it has to stop sometime. He won’t even know we’re
there.’
‘You don’t know my father, he gets to know everyone’s
business.’
‘That’s no reason. That terrible brimstone preacher lives just
round the corner, and we manage well enough to avoid him.’
‘Ho, ho.’
‘We need never see your father. The Deptford yard is
enormous. More than a mile end to end. Just think, you could work there fitting
out ships, and you’d never set eyes on him.’ She tugged at his sleeve. ‘The
workshop’s so fine – you should see the workbench. More than eight foot long,
and it runs right under the window. You can nearly see the whole shipyard from
there.’ She paused; she knew his weak spot well. ‘And the house will be perfect
for your new commission. You won’t have to hire a work place again.’
‘It’s more than we can afford, love, to buy a house.’
‘You’ll get better commissions though, once people see
Hertford’s chairs. You should see it! There’s room for your lathes and there’s
already a wall with hooks for hanging tools. Just come and look, Will. That’s
all.’
Will sighed. ‘Suppose looking won’t hurt.’
*
In the panelled chambers of Thavie’s Inn, Holborn, Will
Bagwell lifted the quill and dipped it in the ink. His heart was pounding
beneath the buttons of his doublet. The paper before him was thick vellum, as
if to emphasise the serious nature of the agreement. Ten years’ of his wages in
a good year. An enormous loan. He wanted to read it again, for it was a lot of
writing to take in, in a language that took some fathoming. But they were all
waiting.
Behind him, he could hear Bess breathing; feel the heat of
her hand on his shoulder. He tapped the nib on the edge of the bottle to shake
off the excess droplets of ink; Bess’s hand tightened. He swallowed. Just shy
of sixty pounds. If he signed this, there would be no going back.
He hesitated, and looked up. Opposite him, the turtle-faced
goldsmith, Kite, nodded and narrowed his eyes in a tight smile of
encouragement. The notary, an official from the Inn of Chancery in a blindingly
white cravat, was impatient, shifting from foot to foot. No doubt he’d seen
such an agreement many times.
A deep breath. Will felt the nib touch the paper and
suddenly, there it was – his signature flowing across the page. He had no
sooner lifted the pen from the document than it was swiped out from under his
gaze, and Kite the money-lender was scribbling his name under Will’s.
Immediately, a serving boy came with a stub of smoking sealing wax, and even
before Kite had time to press the metal die into the red puddle on the paper,
the notary was adding his witness signature.
It was over in a few seconds and Will’s damp palm was
gripped momentarily in Kite’s wrinkled one, before the duplicate loan agreement
and the house deeds were thrust into his hand for him to sign.
‘My man Bastable will collect the repayments on the last day
of each month,’ Kite said.
Will felt dazed. He wanted to turn back time, give the
agreement back. But they were all smiling, Bess most of all. Her face lit up
the room. She had her fine house now, and he couldn’t let her down, could he?
But all he could think of was the feeling of his empty purse, like a lung with
the breath squeezed out of it.
For those of you who are passionate about historical fiction, this is the type of book that will appeal to you. Its an amazing book that brings characters from history to life and weaves a story around them that will pull the reader into the era and completely submerge them in this fascinating story.
The year is 1663 and Bess is an ambitious woman determined that she and her husband will rise up the social ranks. She's a little embarrassed by their social standing and wants to be thought of as a lady. With ideas well above her station and completely out of her financial means, Bess is determined to achieve this. Her husband Will is a master carpenter and Bess is determined to exploit his skills to ensure that they become 'somebody'. The first step to achieve this is to move into a new house in a nicer area even though they cannot afford to do so, thus landing them in debt. Bess of course sees herself as too much of an up and coming lady to work and help dig them out of this financial mess she got them into. She has a well to do neighbour to impress after all. Unfortunately, Bess is soon forced to rethink this or risk losing everything. Will's scrounging cousin Jack doesn't help their financial situation either and Bess becomes increasingly frustrated with Will's lack of action on this matter.
Determined to improve their situation, Bess seeks an introduction to Samuel Pepys in the hope that an association with him might help her husband in gaining employment working on board a ship. A job that would not only improve their financial situation but in turn their social standing. Mr Pepys is a man of great social standing with ties to the King himself! However, Bess does not bargain on how this will set off a chain of events that turns her plan right on its head. And, in the background the plague is decimating the people of London and has no respect or care for social standing.
I really enjoyed this book. It was amazingly well written with just the right amount of historical information that didn't make you feel like you were having a history lecture. I found it absolutely fascinating. It's very clear throughout that Deborah Swift has done an amazing amount of research for this book. Her knowledge of the era and the issues of the time is evident through her writing. The characters are rich and interesting and evolve throughout the course of the book, particularly Bess's mother Agatha. I really liked her! The character of Bess really fascinated me. She seemed to do a lot of wrong things but for the right reasons. She was a woman in a time when women were not highly thought of and definitely should not be interfering in their husband's business. But, Bess is too driven to sit back and see all they have built fall apart. The plague itself was almost like a secondary character in the background determined to eat away all that was good and throw a blanket of fear and grief over everything. This is a brilliant book and a highly recommended read from me!
Check out book 1 in
the series!
PRAISE FOR PLEASING MR PEPYS
'Swift is a consummate historical novelist, basing her books on
immaculate research and then filling the gaps between real events and
real people with eloquent storytelling, atmospheric scene setting and
imaginative plot lines' The Visitor
'Pepys and his world spring to vibrant life...Gripping, revealing and
stunningly imagined, Pleasing Mr Pepys is guaranteed to please' Lancashire Evening
Post
ABOUT DEBORAH SWIFT
From Deborah Swift:
I write historical fiction, a genre I love. I
loved the Victorian classics such as Jane Eyre, Lorna Doone and Wuthering
Heights. As I child I loved to read and when I had read my own library books, I
used to borrow my mother's library copies of Anya Seton and Daphne du Maurier.
I have loved reading historical novels ever since; though I'm a bookaholic and
I read widely - contemporary and classic fiction as well as historicals.
In the past I used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV, so I enjoy the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something I loved doing as a scenographer. Each book takes about six months of research before I am ready to begin writing. More details of my research and writing process can be found on my website. I like to write about extraordinary characters set against the background of real historical events.
I live in North Lancashire on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.
I took an MA in Creative Writing in 2007 and now teach classes and courses in writing, and offer editorial advice from my home. A Plague on Mr Pepys is my ninth published novel.
In the past I used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV, so I enjoy the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something I loved doing as a scenographer. Each book takes about six months of research before I am ready to begin writing. More details of my research and writing process can be found on my website. I like to write about extraordinary characters set against the background of real historical events.
I live in North Lancashire on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.
I took an MA in Creative Writing in 2007 and now teach classes and courses in writing, and offer editorial advice from my home. A Plague on Mr Pepys is my ninth published novel.
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