Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mullane45 's review for:
The Plague Stones
by James Brogden
3.5 rounded up.
Another very enjoyable slice of folksy horror from James Brogden.
After a traumatising break-in, a family move to a new village, where they find themselves the custodians of the “plague stone” that sits in their back garden. Dotted around the village, these stones are a relic from the time of the Black Death, and mark the boundary that was once established to keep the diseased at arm’s length. But while the Black Death may have ended some 600 years ago, there are still those that strive to cross the boundary…
Brogden isn’t the most flowery or artsy writer, but his style is very easy to read. For instance, flashbacks to the time of the Black Death don’t really transport you back in time, or bring the era to tangible life, but they do add colour and background to a story that is surprisingly resonant. And there are some deliciously disgusting depictions of the symptoms of bubonic plague.
The Plague Stones is a tale of the haves and have-nots; those who circle the wagons at the first sign of trouble, and refuse aid to those that need it; who become callously insular, looking after their own first, and everyone else be damned. It’s difficult not to think of the desperate people forced to drown in the Channel, or our horrible little island cutting itself off from the wider world, or any number of other headlines from recent years. A Serbian family living in the run-down block of flats near the village only helps to ram these ideas home.
Most incredible of all, for a book about a deadly pandemic and the way people react to it, this was written and published before COVID even began.
Another very enjoyable slice of folksy horror from James Brogden.
After a traumatising break-in, a family move to a new village, where they find themselves the custodians of the “plague stone” that sits in their back garden. Dotted around the village, these stones are a relic from the time of the Black Death, and mark the boundary that was once established to keep the diseased at arm’s length. But while the Black Death may have ended some 600 years ago, there are still those that strive to cross the boundary…
Brogden isn’t the most flowery or artsy writer, but his style is very easy to read. For instance, flashbacks to the time of the Black Death don’t really transport you back in time, or bring the era to tangible life, but they do add colour and background to a story that is surprisingly resonant. And there are some deliciously disgusting depictions of the symptoms of bubonic plague.
The Plague Stones is a tale of the haves and have-nots; those who circle the wagons at the first sign of trouble, and refuse aid to those that need it; who become callously insular, looking after their own first, and everyone else be damned. It’s difficult not to think of the desperate people forced to drown in the Channel, or our horrible little island cutting itself off from the wider world, or any number of other headlines from recent years. A Serbian family living in the run-down block of flats near the village only helps to ram these ideas home.
Most incredible of all, for a book about a deadly pandemic and the way people react to it, this was written and published before COVID even began.