Excavating the unsettling remains of a Norse society under attack, they also come to uncover their own demons, as it becomes apparent that a plague pandemic is sweeping across the planet and communication with the outside world is breaking down. Increasingly unsure whether their missives will ever reach their destination, each of the characters writes a letter to someone close to them, trying to make sense of their situation and expressing their fears...

October 1604. Plague has hit London, and the theatres are closed. But the capital's loss is Plymouth's gain, when a London theatre troupe, the Company, arrive on their 'Plague Tour'. Country physician Gabriel Taverner is bewitched and unnerved by the Company's sexually charged staging of Othello. But when Gabriel's friend tells him of a dangerous, whispered conversation overheard during a brief break, he is relieved the Company will soon be on their...

The second novel in the Mr Pepys series by popular historical novelist Deborah Swift. The Great Plague has London in its grip. As the summer heat rises, red crosses mark the doors, wealthy citizens flee and only the poor remain to face the march of death. Ambitious and attractive, Bess Bagwell is determined her carpenter husband, Will, should make a name for himself and schemes to meet Samuel Pepys, diarist, friend of the King and an important man...