The Black Death remains the greatest disaster to befall humanity, killing about half the population of the planet in the 14th century. John Hatcher recreates everyday medieval life in a parish in Suffolk, from which an exceptional number of documents survive. This enables us to view events through the eyes of its residents, revealing in unique detail what it was like to live and die in these terrifying times. With scrupulous attention to historical accuracy, John Hatcher describes what the parishioners experienced, what they knew and what they believed. His narrative is peopled with characters developed from the villagers named in the actual towns records and a series of dramatic scenes portray how contemporaries must have experienced the momentous events.

Professor Hatcher cannot be faulted on his devotion to the detail, or his convincing portrayal of the village of Walsham... Individual men and women are painstakingly described... The Black Death conveys with great effectiveness the intensity of medieval English devotions and their deep preoccupation with the business of dying. Reading this book I was reminded time and again of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. -- WILL SELF THE EVENING STANDARD 'What ordinary people thought and felt, how much they understood and what they believed is impossible to say. The vast majority were illiterate, so they have left no trace of their inner lives. This is the aspect that John Hatcher seeks to rediscover, using a new method that he calls literary docudrama.' -- JOHN CAREY SUNDAY TIMES - LEAD REVIEW John Hatcher, a distinguished economic historian, sets out to attempt something new: to describe the plague in terms of one of these hard-hit communities... more than most of the purely historical accuonts have given us. -- RICHARD BARBER THE LITERARY REVIEW Ambridge with a body count DAILY TELEGRAPH a gripping read - part historical inquiry, part novel. THE INDEPENDENT Tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the unstoppable killer plague that devastated a 14th century English Village. MAXIM MAGAZINE 'This totally absorbing book presents the best account ever written about the worst event to have ever befallen the British Isles. In the hands of John Hatcher...the extraordinary tragedy of the great plague...has been brought to life in a manner rarely attempted, and with a level of success even more rarely achieved...[Hatcher writes] medieval history 'from the inside'...can have few rivals. SIMON WINCHESTER The author is praised as' a masterly social historian' and the book as 'colourful as an episode of Midsomer Murders...informative...moving.' FINANCIAL TIMES an entertaining and informative history book... fascinating. BELFAST NEWSLETTER Such a significant event requires a brave and painstaking examination and eminent historian John Hatcher is more than equal to the task... entertaining, informative. WHARF -four star rating (out of five) A historical recreation of what happens when the plague strikes a typical 14th-century town... hardhitting. SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

John Hatcher is Professor of Economic and Social History and Chairman of the History Faculty at Cambridge University. He has taught the subject of the Black Death for twenty years and is the author of eight books on medieval history. He appeared in the Channel 4 series 'The Seven Ages of Britain' and advised on 'Bloody Britain', a Discovery Channel series with Rory McGrath, as well as a Channel 4 documentary on the Peasants' Revolt with Tony Robinson. He lives in Cambridge.