This is the 3rd Review from Our Fall Into Reading Challenge!
By reviewer Greta Marlow
Title: At the Sign of the Sugared Plum
Author: Mary Hooper
Primary Audience/age group: 12+ (publisher suggests grades 5-8)
Genre: Historical fiction
# Of pages: 169
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year of Release: 2003
Part of a Series? Yes, it’s first of two
Rating: 3 (View Scale)
Recommend: Yes
Description: (from book cover) “It is 1665 and Hannah is full of excitement at the prospect of her first trip to London. She is going to help her sister, Sarah, in her sweetmeats shop, ‘The Sugared Plum.’ But Hannah does not get the welcoming reception she expected. Sarah is horrified that Hannah did not get her message to stay away: the Plague is threatening to take hold of London. Through Hannah’s eyes, Mary Hooper brilliantly recreates the smells, sounds, and sights of seventeenth century London life. Hannah’s excitement at coming to the big city is vividly evoked, as is the growing terror of a seemingly unstoppable plague that takes hold of the city, street by street, house by house.”
Review: As people get ready to pull out the skeleton costumes and makeup to make themselves look like the dead, I wonder if we ever think about what our world would be like if it weren’t a game. This book does a great job of taking the reader back to the time of the terrible plague that wiped out nearly a third of London’s population in 1665. Hannah’s outlook changes from a carefree girl excited to be on an adventure to that of a young woman troubled by nightmares of the real horror around her. While the plot might be a little thin for more mature readers, the book is definitely worth reading because of the detail Hooper includes that lets the reader feel what it must have been like to live through those times.
Rating: 3, for some gruesome descriptions
Positive: Based on what I’ve said above, you might get the impression this book is depressing. Actually, Hannah and her sister Sarah show great resilience against giving in to the hopelessness that would be so natural in the circumstances they faced. They also show concern for some neighbors struck with the plague when others don’t. In the end, they take a great risk to help someone.
Spiritual Elements: Religion is part of the experience of the characters, especially since the government has ordered everyone to go to church, pray, and fast (sincerely or not) in an effort to turn God’s judgment from the city. However, the book also portrays the sense of futility many people felt toward religion when the praying and fasting seemed to have no effect.
Violence: The violence in the book comes as descriptions of the effects of the plague. Some scenes do seem like something from a horror movie, with plague victims wandering the streets at night, plague carts loaded and overloaded with bodies, bodies being carelessly dumped into huge pits. The descriptions don’t go past what I would consider to be a PG level, but it is disturbing to remember that all of this really happened.
Language: The word “whore” is thrown in a couple of times. Otherwise, no problems.
Sexual Content: Hannah meets a nice young man and longs to be kissed by him. (Spoiler alert!) However, it is not to be. There is also one section that discusses a rumored cure for plague that involves sleeping with a prostitute. But Hannah’s sister is quick to condemn that as ungodly.
Other: One thing I found sort of alarming about the story was how people treated other people who were stricken with plague. There was such fear that even basic human kindness was abandoned.
Rating: 3, for violence and mild horror
Recommendation: This is another outstanding work of historical fiction, and I would encourage kids to read it (parents might judge how sensitive their children are to scary ideas). I think it provides a good opportunity for parents to talk with kids about how humans react to frightening events that seem completely out of their control – a lesson that could be valuable in even modern times.
