Author Bio:
I am a British ex-pat who has lived in South Africa for nearly as long as in England. I have exchanged squirrels in the garden for monkeys; the caw of crows with the terrified-seeming cry of the hadeda ibis. I swelt under a hot summer sun, rather than shiver in the freezing rain.
And it is here, under a wide-open sky, that I have begun to write, in response to a call from Jesus to ‘write what I see in a book’.
And so the journey has begun, seeing and writing. I trust the eyes of your heart will be opened to see with me as you read.
Book Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3sbmPW5
Editorial Review:
Like footprints in a dusty room, the villagers of Eyam have left their imprint.
She recalled the stories of the plagues God unleashed on Pharoah and the Egyptians in punishment for their harsh treatment of His Israelite children. There had been frogs and gnats, and yes, boils. Was Eyam being punished for a secret she knew nothing about?
In truth, this is a historical novel whose theme resonates to our day and how history repeats itself throughout time. Some people learn the lessons from the past, some don’t, but still, all must suffer the consequences.
In the fall of 1665, the horrific Black Death sweeps through London, killing thousands, and the stories of the outbreak reach the quaint town of Eyam in Derbyshire... but that is not all that reaches the villagers. One young man, an assistant to the local tailor, brings a load of cloth to the town that is infested with plague-carrying fleas. In no time at all, Eyam’s residents are struck with the plague, and one by one, they succumb to the deadly disease.
In the story, we see this real-life story unfold through the eyes of Kitty Allenby, a young girl who dreams of a life with a young man named John, whose aspirations take him away from the village so he can gain a skill and they can get married. While she waits for him to return, the plague hits the village, and Kitty, who is staying with her aunt and uncle, must remain there and help out her family while watching the horrors around her. Her future and the future of her family hangs in the balance.
While staying with her aunt and uncle, she is befriended by the Reverend Mompesson’s wife, Catherine, and is invited to come help with some of their workload when they discover that she can read and write. While with the Mompessons, she sees the wrangling of religion views between the Reverend and the former preacher, Thomas Stanley, but how they put aside their differences to help the people of the village in this time of need.
While Kitty is a fictitious character, the story behind what happened in Eyam is true, and even if Kitty’s character never fully engaged my interest in her story, the rest of what happens certainly does, as does the relevancy to our day. Anna Jensen’s timing in writing and releasing this novel is spot-on, as well as the lessons it teaches about putting aside differences to save lives. Yet, to any reader who reads this novel, any worldwide audience, the key is to see the similarities between the plague of 1666 and our own plague of 2021, and not to just sit by and nod their head in recognition but to do their part in resolving the tide of death; the same as the villagers abided by the leading of Reverend Mompesson and Thomas Stanley.
For my part, the two characters which captivated me most in the storyline is that of the Reverend and his wife. She is kind and does her part to help those in need, even putting her own life in jeopardy; and the Reverend comes up with a solution to save the village – that of complete isolation from the outside world: no one enters and no one leaves, and everyone must stay home with their families. Even his religious services are moved outdoors, which as Kitty states the Reverend ‘seemed so out of place in this outdoor setting. He was a man of pattern and conformity, unlike the Puritan preachers who had long ago become accustomed to ministering to their flocks in the fields and along the byways’. The moments in the narrative with this man and his wife felt so authentic and emotional, and thoughts of them lingered with me after finishing the tragic story.
And the narrative itself flowed like Eyam’s nearby River Dane, whose Welsh name means a ‘drop or trickle’ implying ‘slow moving’ and the authentic use of time period language takes a little adjustment. That being said, this did not take away from the storyline which kept me motivated to want to know what happens to Kitty and her family. The devastation is heartbreaking, and when death comes close to Kitty in a very unexpected way, the raw emotions are laid bare for the reader. Again, as a reader, you are reminded of the realities that many have faced in our own era of losing those we love to a plague.
The reader will truly appreciate Ms Jensen’s notes at the end, and how this story is just one of her Ripple Through Time series. She says these are ‘stories of how God takes the ordinary and transforms it into something extraordinary. The smallest of stones, tossed into smooth water, will create waves; concentric circles spreading outward to reach beyond the immediate or seen. So too, the seemingly insignificant actions of today can leave ripples that are felt into eternity.’ - I loved this notation which encompassed all that this story is trying to teach, and I look forward to the next in the series.
Here are some of my favorite passages:
As their reverend climbed to his verdant pulpit, the parishioners of Eyam settled down into their chosen spots on the grass. Together but separate, they remained in their small family groups, not wishing to mingle and mix as they would on other Sundays. Everything was different – not just their place of meeting, but the way of meeting too. There was now an invisible barrier between them, an irrevocable change in circumstances that required an irrevocable change in behaviour.
The cottage smelled of sugar and woodsmoke. Kitty’s fingers became calloused and ugly from the hours spent at the spinning wheel; her shoulders ached from stooping and her eyes watered from the strain of trying to see what she was doing in the dimness of the candlelight.
*****
Given Lives by Anna Jensen is awarded five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award by The Historical Fiction Company
