What do You think about At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum (2003)?
At the Sign of the Sugared Plum is a very quick read about a young girl's experiences in London, during the Plague. It's told in the usual Mary Hooper fashion, a lot of attention to detail with a very rich, vivid storyline and a very likeable heroine.Hannah did annoy me at first because she was a very stereotypical, 'fresh from the country' girl, she's very naive and the only things on her mind are getting rid of her freckles and the latest fashions. However, after seeing all the horrors of the Plague - Plague pits, dead and dying lying in the street and being trapped in London - only people with signed papers stating they're healthy can leave, and they aren't cheap - Hannah starts to see how the world really is and she starts to be more like her sister, despite still having a weakness for the latest fashions!The cover is an eye-catching one too - if you look closely at Hannah's eye you can see a skull in it, which I find pretty creepy! There's also a newspaper style background with larger words like 'Plague' and 'Prayers' really standing out. It's a brilliant cover.As I said, the storytelling is magical. There's enough gruesome detail to really get a picture of what it was like there (I swear I smelt a house full of rotting bodies at one point) but not so much that you'd want to hide it from your 13 year old sister. A perfect balance really!I would have liked the book to have been longer so we could have found out what happened afterwards with some of the characters and I'm not sure why this wasn't done, after all, the book is only 163 pages long so another chapter shouldn't have hurt?Review Update: Since writing this review I've learnt that there is a sequel, Petals in the Ashes, which I'll be reviewing somewhere...
—Vickie Wilson
Teenaged Hannah has lived all her life in the English countryside, so she is thrilled when, in the summer of 1665, her older sister Sarah invites her to come live with her in London and help her at her candy shop. However, arriving in London she finds Sarah had sent a second letter instructing her not to come. Plague has taken hold in London, and Sarah fears for Hannah's life. Hannah insists on staying, believing she will be safe. But to her horror, in the coming weeks more and more people die, and the sickness becomes an epidemic. Hannah finds herself living every day in fear that she will catch the Plague and die from it, for there is little hope of surviving it, and no way of leaving the city to escape. I recommend this book to readers who like historical fiction and are interested in this time period. It brings to life the daily life of people in the 17th century and the horrors of living in London during the Great Plague. The historical details were fascinating and I learned a lot from reading the book.
—Rebecca
First I have to say: what a fabulous title! The historical and geographical descriptions in this book were outstanding. Late 17th Century Plague-ridden London, as the common people experienced it, was felt/seen/smelled/watched/navigated with authenticity and that was such a treat, as I have long had an interest in those things. Even with the bit of knowledge I possess already, I learned so many new things about what life was like for people who lived through that.The story-telling was also compelling even without a human villain, because the Plague was the villain, encroaching on the main character with every chapter, and growing incrementally more monstrous. I loved how that was done.The reason I could not give more stars for this book is because the characterization was, for me, not good. I felt that Hannah's freckles and red hair were not original and were lacking in depth. I had little sympathy for her. For all that Hannah described to the reader in terms of setting, I learned very little about her personally and that was a disappointment for me. I believe that every single word, be it descriptive or narrative, should be serving a dual purpose, which is to reveal something about the character. Unfortunately, the descriptions in this book seemed only to be there for description's sake and yes, I learned a great deal about London in 1665, but Hannah still seemed simplistic in her thoughts, fears, preferences, wishes, even in love.Ironically, Sarah, who was barely described at all, was a more complex character because of the position she was in (a single women, evidently not interested in marrying), the things she allowed (keeping Mew when she wanted a clean smelling house, for one), her compassion (bringing sweetmeats and flowers to the Williams family despite her fears). Tom was extremely flat and left me not caring one way or the other about the romantic element of the story.I'm undecided on whether or not I will give this to my 10 year old to read as I do not particularly want to have the conversation about what a whore is. I'm scratching my head as to why that character was even in this story. From other reviews, I gather that she makes an appearance in other books by this author, but it seems entirely unnecessary in this one.On the whole, I very much enjoyed this book and the peek into life during the Plague for a normal, working person, a treasure that is hard to find in books or movies.
—Robin
