The Last Hours

By: Minette Walters

Narrated by: Helen Keeley

When the Black Death enters England through the port in Dorsetshire in June 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is - or how it spreads and kills so quickly. The Church cites God as the cause, and fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness.

But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. Educated by nuns, Anne is a rarity among women, being both literate and knowledgeable. With her brutal husband absent from the manor when news of this pestilence reaches her, she looks for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. She decides to bring her serfs inside the safety of the moat that surrounds her manor house, then refuses entry to anyone else, even her husband.

Lady Anne makes an enemy of her daughter and her husband’s steward by doing so, but her resolve is strengthened by the support of her leading serfs...until food stocks run low. The nerves of all are tested by continued confinement and ignorance of what is happening in the world outside. The people of Develish are alive. But for how long? And what will they discover when the time comes for them to cross the moat again?

Compelling and suspenseful, The Last Hours is a riveting tale of human ingenuity and endurance set against the worst pandemic in history. In Lady Anne of Develish - leader, savior, heretic - Walters has created her most memorable heroine to date.

©2018 Minette Walters (P)2018 W.F. Howes

The last hours

Overall, the story was excellent, enjoyed it very much. I am now hoping to find the next story in this series

A fun read

A few anachronisms, including some unbelievably woke medieval pesants, but this is a fun escapist book & worth reading. I'll definitely download the sequel & check out her other books.

Can't wait for the next book!

Excellent story and the narration is good. I will be purchasing the next book when it comes to Audible.

Great book

One of my favorites. Loved it . Hated to finish it but there is a book 2. Which I also listened to and is just as good.

Action Packed (maybe a little too much)

t's 1348, and the plague has started to spread throughout England. No one knows the cause or the cure, let alone any means of prevention, and distrust of strangers abounds. Lady Anne of Devilish is left in charge when her husband leaves the manor, contracts the disease, and dies. She feels tremendous empathy for the local peasants and uses her knowledge of herbal medicine and her wits to help preserve them from both the plague and the marauders taking advantage of their desperate situation--which is more than can be said of the local priest, a drunkard who lets the young people use the church for sexual rendezvous. On top of everything else, Lady Anne has to deal with her haughty daughter Eleanor, a nasty daddy's girl who never lets anyone forget her superior bloodline. Thankfully, Lady Anne has two trusted servants, her maid Isabel and Isabel's brother, Thaddeus.

If you like a lot of adventure thrown into your historical fiction, then this is the book for you. I found it a little too dramatic and convoluted and the characters a bit too stereotypical. That said, I stuck with it and really liked the character of Lady Anne, plus the book moves at a good pace with a number of twists and turns along the way. I listened to the book on audio, and after 15-1/2 hours, I was rather disappointed that the conclusion was, "To be continued." I'm not sure if I will read the next installment, but we'll see.

I love the time period and story

I found this fascinating and riveting. The characters are real enough, but trying to put myself back to the 1300’s holds my interest

I was sad when it ended......

Shades of Ken Follet and Pillars of the Earth series. It took me a couple chapters to "tune in" to the medieval language the accent, and to hooked iinto the story. But after that I was hooked and couldn't put it down. I stayed up too many late nights, not wanting to fall asleep, while I listened! The only consolation when it ended was that there would be sequels. I could tell that as the story developed, as I could see many story lines to be pursued.

Excellent!

I just finished and I hope the next one is out. It is written and performed beautifully.

Outstanding historical fictional during the bubonic plague years.

This is probably the BEST historical fiction I’ve listened to since Follett’s Kingsbridge series. It was so well written, but the ending has me running to the next book-definitely one very long book split into 2, which is just fine. I hope to read more from this wonderful author from this fascinating era, by this talented narrator! WELL DONE!

Interesting tale about a pandemic

While interesting this is overwritten and needs a thorough edit. We hear from he same descriptions over and over and then a character reveals whole new habbits that we hadn’t previously known