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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
A deadly contagion races through England …
Isabel and her family have nowhere to run from a disease that has killed half of Europe. When the world she knows and loves ends forever, her only weapon is courage.
The Black Death of 1349 was the deadliest plague in human history. ALL FALL DOWN is a powerful and inspiring story about survival in the face of real-life horror.
It’s 1349. 14 year-old Isabel lives with her father, step-mother Alice, younger brother Ned, younger sister Margaret and baby Edward in the village of Ingleforn in Yorkshire. They’re serfs, tied to working the local lord of the manor’s land before they can work their own. They have limited freedoms – prevented even from leaving the village without permission - but they live reasonably well and own their own livestock.
A year earlier reports arrived in the village of a terrible sickness taking hold of other parts of the country – a sickness that started in Bristol but soon arrived in London. Given its remoteness, the village thought that it would be safe as the plague started to work north. It was wrong. Over the course of the next year, Isabel will live through horrors she could never previously imagine and everything about her life will change forever …
Sally Nicholls’ YA novel is a historically accurate account of life during the Black Death, but it lacked dramatic tension, with plot and characters existing only to describe what actually happened. As a result, although this is a worthy read and one I’d recommend for any teenagers studying the period, I didn’t find it a satisfying novel overall.
Isabel is deftly drawn. Nicholls does well at showing her struggling to come to terms with the tragedies that happen to her and I liked how the plague’s arrival and the daily struggle for survival contrasts with her ‘previous’ normal life and mundane concerns. Her relationship with Robin is interesting – part friendship, part romance – and they contrast nicely with each other with Robin desperate to escape mundane village life while Isabel dreams of working her own land.
The first half of the book is the best, with Nicholls conveying the sense of dread that overtakes Ingleforn as the plague creeps closer. The way the village tears itself apart is chilling and Nicholls also does well in showing how it sets the stage for lasting social change. The second half however lacks emotional punch. Nicholls seems more interested in differentiating between the types of Black Death symptoms and takes Isabel out of Ingleforn to show what happened in York, introducing new characters who didn’t interest me as much and who Isabel has no emotional connection to.
Ultimately, although this book didn’t work for me, it’s still worth a look and I’d read more of Nicholls’s work.
The Verdict:
Sally Nicholls’ YA novel is a historically accurate account of life during the Black Death, but it lacked dramatic tension, with plot and characters existing only to describe what actually happened. As a result, although this is a worthy read and one I’d recommend for any teenagers studying the period, I didn’t find it a satisfying novel overall. I would however be interested in reading more of Nicholls’ work as she does understand period and portrays it well.
ALL FALL DOWN was released in the UK on 1st March 2012. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
Isabel and her family have nowhere to run from a disease that has killed half of Europe. When the world she knows and loves ends forever, her only weapon is courage.
The Black Death of 1349 was the deadliest plague in human history. ALL FALL DOWN is a powerful and inspiring story about survival in the face of real-life horror.
It’s 1349. 14 year-old Isabel lives with her father, step-mother Alice, younger brother Ned, younger sister Margaret and baby Edward in the village of Ingleforn in Yorkshire. They’re serfs, tied to working the local lord of the manor’s land before they can work their own. They have limited freedoms – prevented even from leaving the village without permission - but they live reasonably well and own their own livestock.
A year earlier reports arrived in the village of a terrible sickness taking hold of other parts of the country – a sickness that started in Bristol but soon arrived in London. Given its remoteness, the village thought that it would be safe as the plague started to work north. It was wrong. Over the course of the next year, Isabel will live through horrors she could never previously imagine and everything about her life will change forever …
Sally Nicholls’ YA novel is a historically accurate account of life during the Black Death, but it lacked dramatic tension, with plot and characters existing only to describe what actually happened. As a result, although this is a worthy read and one I’d recommend for any teenagers studying the period, I didn’t find it a satisfying novel overall.
Isabel is deftly drawn. Nicholls does well at showing her struggling to come to terms with the tragedies that happen to her and I liked how the plague’s arrival and the daily struggle for survival contrasts with her ‘previous’ normal life and mundane concerns. Her relationship with Robin is interesting – part friendship, part romance – and they contrast nicely with each other with Robin desperate to escape mundane village life while Isabel dreams of working her own land.
The first half of the book is the best, with Nicholls conveying the sense of dread that overtakes Ingleforn as the plague creeps closer. The way the village tears itself apart is chilling and Nicholls also does well in showing how it sets the stage for lasting social change. The second half however lacks emotional punch. Nicholls seems more interested in differentiating between the types of Black Death symptoms and takes Isabel out of Ingleforn to show what happened in York, introducing new characters who didn’t interest me as much and who Isabel has no emotional connection to.
Ultimately, although this book didn’t work for me, it’s still worth a look and I’d read more of Nicholls’s work.
The Verdict:
Sally Nicholls’ YA novel is a historically accurate account of life during the Black Death, but it lacked dramatic tension, with plot and characters existing only to describe what actually happened. As a result, although this is a worthy read and one I’d recommend for any teenagers studying the period, I didn’t find it a satisfying novel overall. I would however be interested in reading more of Nicholls’ work as she does understand period and portrays it well.
ALL FALL DOWN was released in the UK on 1st March 2012. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
