Recently, I've been reading Petals in the Ashes, by Mary Hooper.
It is a sequel to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum.
"I could barely explain how much I wanted to go back to London, for I hardly understood myself. I'd hated the stinking city when we'd left, could hardly bare to think on its name, but now the plague has disappeared from the streets the people would be back, the theatres and shops would be open and we would find everything as cheery as it had been before."
- An extract from the book.
The year is 1666 and Hannah is determined to get back to her little sweetmeat shop in London as soon as the plague is gone. She returns with her younger sister Anne because older sister Sarah wants to stay with their mother - to help her and also to stay closer to a certain young man she's met. Hannah on the other hand, is impatient to return to London and find out if any of their friends and neighbours survived the terrible plague, and to seek out her own sweetheart, Tom. But omens and predictions are rife - the year is 1666 and many are afraid that the plague was just the beginning, something even worse is about to fall on London.
This gripping account of London's Great Fire of 1666 is a worthy companion to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. I haven't finished the book, however so far I have found it very engaging as it picks up from where the story left off in the previous book. I have enjoyed reading this book so far as the author, Mary Hooper, evokes with complete mastery the sights, sounds and terror of a London gripped by the ferocious and terrible Fire of London, engulfing everything in its path.
Personally, I give this book a rating of 4/5.
"Informative and engaging" - Observer
"Gripping throughout" - Independent
