The Master of Measham Hall by Anna Abney

London, 1665. It is five years since King Charles II returned from exile, the scars of the English Civil Wars are yet to heal and now the Great Plague engulfs the land. Alethea Hawthorne is safe inside the walls of the Calverton household as a companion to their daughter. She waits in anticipation of her brother William’s pardon for killing a man in a duel before they can both return to their ancestral home in Measham Hall.

But when Alethea suddenly finds herself cast out on the streets of London, a long road to Derbyshire lies ahead of her. Militias have closed their boroughs off to outsiders for fear of contamination. Fortune smiles on her when Jack appears, an unlikely travelling companion who helps this determined country girl to navigate a perilous new world of religious dissenters, charlatans and a pestilence that afflicts peasants and lords alike.

Anna Abney's immersive debut is a fast-paced, multi-layered novel that intimately explores the social and religious divides at the heart of the Restoration period.

About the author

Anna Abney is among the last descendants of the Abney family, former residents of Measham Hall, a lost house of Derbyshire. The Master of Measham Hall trilogy is a fictionalised account of her ancestors' lives. An academic in the English and Creative Writing department at the Open University, she wrote her PhD on the seventeenth century writer, Margaret Cavendish, the first English woman to be published in her own name. Her writing includes fiction, journalism and drama. Anna was born and raised in London, lived in Ireland, North and South, for thirteen years before returning to the Big Smoke. She now lives in rural Kent with her husband, a playwright and screenwriter, and their border-collie.

Review

‘The Master of Measham’ Hall was a brilliant debut and start to a new historical fiction series. Its fast paced and this history is spot on. It shows the religious and social divides that were present during the Restoration, but also the human aspect of the plague. What makes this book special is that the author is writing about her own ancestors who lived at Measham Hall. Imagine being able to dive into one's history like that? It's my dream but alas the most exciting about my ancestors is one of them got hung for stealing a sheep!

It's 1665 the year the plague hits London. Alethea is a ladies companion for the Calverton’s daughter, a family who are friends with her Father. She is desperate to hear news about her brother William who has had to flee Britain after a mysterious duel. But alas, Alethea finds herself thrown to the wolves on the streets of London and has to make her own way back to her family home in Derbyshire. She ends up meeting a young man Jack who helps her navigates the militia, plagues, religious tensions and their new companions who believe in equality in society.

I adored Alethea. She was loyal, compassionate, forward-thinking, naive, made mistakes but learnt from them and then makes an audacious decision towards the end of the book! I devoured this book in two sittings as I just wanted to know what happened to her story. I'm also really excited for the next book to be released. Now normally I don't read the extra chapters that form the start of the next book but this time I did and it made me so excited! It is set 18 years later and it just enticed me in!

Now, the Restoration is not a period of history that I know much about and that is why I love reading historical fiction as it allows you to learn as you read. You can tell that this book has been well researched and I would love a history book that tells the real story of Anna’s family. It would be fascinating to read.

I honestly can't wait for the next one and I heartily recommend picking up this one. Let me know your thoughts if you do!