Petals in the Ashes - Softcover

Mary Hooper

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747564612 ISBN 13: 9780747564614

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

I could barely explain how much I wanted to go back to London, for I hardly understood myself. I'd hated the stinking city when we'd left, could hardly bear to think on its name, but now the plague had disappeared from the streets the people would be back, the theatres and shops would be open and we would find everything as cheery as it had been before. Hannah returns to her beloved London to re-open the sweetmeats shop with younger sister Anne. Londoners are reeling from the plague epidemic of the previous year, but Hannah and Anne are keen to start enjoying everything the bustling city has to offer. But this is 1666, and it has been prophesised that terrible things will happen, and on Pudding Lane, flames are raging through the bakery...Mary Hooper evokes with complete mastery the sights, sounds and terror of a London gripped by the ferocious and terrible Fire of London, engulfing everything in its path.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary Hooper is a hugely popular writer for young adults. Her other books for Bloomsbury include 'Amy', 'Holly' and the ever popular 'Megan' series, now rejacketed and a trilogy, for which Mary won the North Eastern Book Award for 'Megan 2'. Mary is very much in demand for her events at literary festivals and schools. She lives in Eversley Cross, Hampshire.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6-10–After surviving the plague in London and using health certificates belonging to others, Hannah and her older sister Sarah manage to escape the city and take the baby of a noblewoman to her aunt. However, the anticipated warm welcome is not forthcoming, and the girls are quarantined in a pestilence house for 40 days to make sure that they are free of infection. When their good health is finally proven, they return home to Chertsey before returning to their sweetmeats shop in London. When Sarah decides to remain at home, Hannah returns to London with her younger sister Anne. Shortly thereafter, the Great Fire breaks out. In this sequel to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum (Bloomsbury, 2003), the chaos, terror, uncertainty, and horror of that tragedy are vividly portrayed. Hannah is a determined, sensitive, well-drawn heroine who deals courageously with the disaster. Hooper weaves an engrossing, fast-paced tale steeped in historical detail. Though it seems a bit too convenient when Hannah finds Tom, the boy she is fond of and who supposedly perished in the plague, this subplot simply adds another absorbing dimension to the story. This is exemplary historical fiction, skillfully combining reality and imagination. Quotes from Samuel Pepys's diary introduce each chapter, giving an even greater tone of authenticity.–Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ
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About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0747564612
• ISBN 13: 9780747564614
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192