John Hatcher’s THE BLACK DEATH: A PERSONAL HISTORY tells the true story of the infamous black plague that struck Europe in the mid-14th century. He concentrates his story on one small Suffolk village, that of Walsham between the years 1345 and 1350, and he discusses the attitudes of the town’s inhabitants and their honored priest, Master John, as they confront the horrors of the epidemic. Well, actually, he can’t do that. But he gives it a go.
While manorial and court records for the area and time are remarkably complete, they remain just that: records of political and civil importance. They don’t share the thoughts and fears of the citizenry, merely whether they were fined for letting their cattle loose on the lord’s land. So the information contained in the official record is useful, but somewhat one-dimensional. Hatcher wishes to tell a “personal” history of the plague and how it affected a town of a few hundred people.
He knows in order to do this that he must lightly fictionalize the historical accounts — filling in gaps, providing motivations and fears, trusting to likelihood and common sense — to give a fuller picture of how the plague affected the English people. And he does this fairly well, meshing the bare facts of people named in the records with what must have been going through their minds when they first heard of the pandemic, and how they would have naturally turned to religion and prayed to a supposedly forgiving, but inscrutable God for their deliverance.
Unfortunately, Hatcher isn’t really a novelist; he’s an historian. So you won’t be thrilling to romantic subplots and exciting rural adventures. THE BLACK DEATH is still very much a history of the plague narrowed down to its most localized effect. He invents the benevolent town priest (who isn’t even named in any of the extant records) and imagines conversations. But just because Hatcher uses a novelist’s tools to explain the effect doesn’t make the work any less historical. I think Hatcher has succeeded quite well at creating his personal history of the plague, and this would serve as an exemplary introduction for those interested in the period or the disease. —Mark Rose
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I’m reading this right now and doing a critical book review for my graduate history course. I think Hatcher is a historical snob–especially reading his preface. The book is a rather dull read and Hatcher keeps beating you over the head with the same words over and over. He’s trying for a blend of fiction and history and failing miserably. He doesn’t seek to try to develop his characters (because oh no, that’s going into the bad, evil, dirty territory of “the novel”) and really doesn’t allow for them to be even human. It’s realistic to believe Master John was a devout priest, strictly by the rules, kind of guy. However, for him to never get irritated with his congregation–who act like a bunch of scared, dumb sheep, wailing and lamenting all the time–or think about anything other than his congregation and the plague is silly. At some point, he has to think of himself, if only in the sense of “I’m hungry and need sleep.” Hatcher is trying to be too objective and so focused on historical accuracy, that he can’t even create interesting dialogue. Everything sounds like something that was previously written down in a speech or parish court or manorial court document. There are many historical books that can read as easily as fiction or blend the lines between, for example Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone. There are other novels that are very grounded in history for example Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. Really, Hatcher doesn’t provide the reader with any more insight to the mind of 14th century witness to the plague than any other well written history book on the subject.
i think his book is plop. i would rather kiss a skunk and shave it and put its hair in my mouth with a pot of hot steaming poo then do the can-can with hitler than read this. i may be the sun of a top-secret super agent for the governments but i know what i’m talking about you punk ass busta fool, i’m gunna kill you. EPIC LULZ peace out