Plague
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I hope I have come close to an accurate portrait of time and place. I am sure there are things I’ve got wrong. But before I receive letters, I need to confess something: I have changed a few dates. The Earl of Rochester attempted to abduct the heiress Elizabeth Mallet on May 26, 1665. The theatres were closed for the plague on June 5, 1665. For dramatic purposes, I have amalgamated the two events. I also reopened the theatres somewhat early. Also the earl may have only spent three weeks at his majesty’s displeasure, rather than the three months I have here.
There are so many people I need to thank for the creation of this novel that I have done so in the Acknowledgements. Here, I just need to thank, well, London. Since I no longer live there, I find I cannot stop writing about it. Each time I go back, I learn something new. And each time I also thank providence that I get to write about these extraordinary periods in history and do not have to live through them.
Scarify the buboes, indeed!
C. C. Humphreys
Salt Spring Island, B.C., Canada
July 2014
Acknowledgements
People often think that a novel is the work of only one person: its author. This is absolutely not the case, and I am blessed in my life with highly skilled professionals who stimulate my writing and manage my career. Without them, I’d be scribbling in my garret for the amusement of my cat.
To begin at the beginning of Plague, the novel arose from a series of conversations with my brilliant agent, Simon Trewin, at William Morris Endeavor. It was he who talked of the plague first and got this ball rolling, sending me off to take dictation from various characters who walked into my writing hut and demanded roles in the novel. It was he who placed the novel with my new publishers, Penguin Random House. In the UK, that means the wonderful Selina Walker at Century, who had given me a ride from a festival a year before and got us productively stuck on the M1. Her notes, and her enthusiasm for the subject matter and style ever since, have been, dare I say, infectious.
In Canada, I am looked after by an extraordinary team who make me feel completely supported. These range from Brad Martin, the perspicacious CEO at Penguin Random House, through my dynamic publisher at Doubleday, Kristin Cochrane, to my superb publicist, Nicola Makoway.
My most direct contact is with my editor. Nita Pronovost is not only super smart and very funny, she also knows the genre and what people want from it. She is rigorous but never rigid, always forcing me to reach further for my best. Any failings in the book are mine and probably due to the very, very rare times I have ignored her advice.
Amazing support comes from my family—my wife, Aletha, and my son, Reith, who tolerate my writerly vagueness and stimulate me with their wit and love.
Finally, Dickon. My cat has donated his name to a character and follows me daily to my hut to help me write. (I haven’t told him about the catskins.)
To all, much thanks.
Further Reading
ON LONDON:
Ackroyd, Peter. London: The Biography. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2001.
Hyde, Ralph, editor. The A to Z of Restoration London. London: London Topographical Society, 1992.
Picard, Liza. Restoration London: Everyday Life in London 1660–1670. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003.
Porter, Stephen. Pepys’s London: Everyday Life in London 1650–1703. Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, 2011.
ON THE TIME PERIOD:
Capp, B.S. The Fifth Monarchy Men: A Study in Seventeenth-Century English Millenarianism. London: Faber & Faber, 1972.
Friedman, Jerome. Blasphemy, Immorality and Anarchy: The Ranters and the English Revolution. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1987.
Gyford, Phil, editor. The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Daily email and Twitter feed. http://www.gyford.com/.
Hill, Christopher. The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. London: Penguin Books, 1972.
Miller, John. The English Civil Wars: Roundheads, Cavaliers and the Execution of a King. London: Constable & Robinson, 2009.
Palmer, Tony. Charles II: Portrait of an Age. United Kingdom: Littlehampton Book Services, 1979.
Pennington, Donald and Keith, Thomas. Puritans and Revolutionaries: Essays in Seventeenth-Century History Presented to Christopher Hill. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Purkiss, Diane. The English Civil War: A People’s History. London: HarperPress, 2006.
ON THE PLAGUE:
Defoe, Daniel. A Journal of the Plague Year. Notes by Louis Landa and introduction by David Roberts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Porter, Stephen. The Great Plague. Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, 2009.
ON THE THEATRE:
Etherege, George. The Man of Mode. Translated by John Barnard. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2007.
Fisk, Deborah Payne, editor. The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Speaight, George. Punch and Judy: A History. West Sussex: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd., 1970.
THE BIBLE:
Daniel and The Revelation of St. John the Divine. King James Bible. Nashville: Holman Bible, 1973.
CHRIS (C.C.) HUMPHREYS was born in Toronto and grew up in the United Kingdom. All four of his grandparents were actors, and since his father was an actor as well, it seemed inevitable that he would follow in their footsteps. He has acted all over the world and appeared on stages ranging from London’s West End to Hollywood’s Twentieth Century Fox.
Humphreys began his writing career as a playwright. His first play, A Cage without Bars, won the inaugural 24-Hour Playwriting Competition in Vancouver, and was then produced at Performance Works Vancouver, and later at the top London fringe theatre, The Finborough Theatre. His second, Glimpses of the Moon, was commissioned and later produced by Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary. Humphreys recently adapted his novel Shakespeare’s Rebel for the stage.
The author of nine novels of historical fiction, Humphreys’ books have garnered bestseller status and critical acclaim across North America. The French Executioner was runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers 2002 and has been optioned for the screen. Humphreys’ books featuring the character Jack Absolute—the James Bond of the 1770s—are entitled Jack Absolute, The Blooding of Jack Absolute and Absolute Honour, the last of which was shortlisted for the 2007 Evergreen Award by the Ontario Library Association. As well as his adult fiction, Humphreys is also the author of several works for young adults: The Runestone Saga, The Fetch, Vendetta, Possession and The Hunt of the Unicorn. His books have been translated into more than ten languages.
Fire, Humphreys’ upcoming novel about the Great Fire of London, will be released by Doubleday Canada in 2015.
Humphreys lives on Salt Spring Island, B.C., with his wife and young son. You can connect with him at www.cchumphreys.com.