This Time of Dying

It is October 1918, and England is gathering its dead. For Henry Speake, of Speake & Son Undertakers, laying to rest the shattered bodies of young men sent home from the front has become a grimly familiar duty. But then a country already reeling from war faces an unexpected shock: an epidemic. The Spanish influenza will kill more people than World War I, and more people than the fourteenth-century bubonic plague. There is no cure, no help from the government, not even a clear sense of what is happening---but more and more people keep getting sick, and strangely enough, it is often the young and healthy ones who die. Henry sees the dangers much sooner than most, especially when he finds a letter left behind by a dying doctor, who begs health officials to start closing ports and setting up quarantines before it is too late. Unable to get a government minister to listen to him, Henry turns to a local schoolteacher, Allen Thompson, a woman who would usually be above his station. But as the flu continues to claim its victims and there are no more grand coffins in which to bury even the wealthiest dead, the old social order begins to crumble. Henry and Allen find themselves imagining a new life together---if only they can survive themselves. Inspired by the deaths of the author's grandparents in the Spanish flu epidemic, "This Time of Dying" is a powerfully imagined story of love and redemption in a world where nothing can be taken for granted anymore.

About the Author :
Reina James, the daughter of British television actor Sidney James, lives with her husband in Sussex, England. "This Time of Dying" is her first novel.

Review :
"Love in the time of the Spanish flu epidemic . . . Society trembles on the brink of breakdown and doctors, vicars, and other ordinary souls grapple with the practicalities of the day, while the government contributes very little. . . . Sharp glimpses of human nature scattered over a detailed period panorama." ---"Kirkus Reviews" "James graphically describes a plague that wiped out families and overwhelmed the war-weakened infrastructure. However, the true terrain of the novelist is arguably the response of her characters to their afflictions. Here, James's isolated protagonists prepare the ground admirably for their individual witness and response to the calamity. A finely written and affecting novel." ---"Guardian" (UK) "This restrained and unnerving novel gains strength like the virus it describes. . . . As the crisis peaks, class expectations crumble and an unlikely love story develops. . . . James registers the tiny details of suffering and the book ends almost like a fever breaking, showing that such a scourge can randomly take out anything in its path, leaving behind misery, but also human dignity." ---"Time Out London" (four stars) "James skillfully conveys the suppressed panic and claustrophobia induced by the sudden and deadly prevalence of the disease. Yet members of the local community still find time to disapprove of [Henry and Allen] for their association. This is a muted but moving novel about the persistence of the ordinary during extraordinary times." ---"Financial Times" " Love in the time of the Spanish flu epidemic . . . Society trembles on the brink of breakdown and doctors, vicars, and other ordinary souls grapple with the practicalities of the day, while the government contributes very little. . . . Sharp glimpses of human nature scattered over a detailed period panorama." ---"Kirkus Reviews" " James graphically describes a plague that wiped out families and overwhelmed the war-weakened infrastructure. However, the true terrain of the novelist is arguably the response of her characters to their afflictions. Here, James' s isolated protagonists prepare the ground admirably for their individual witness and response to the calamity. A finely written and affecting novel." ---"Guardian" (UK) " This restrained and unnerving novel gains strength like the virus it describes. . . . As the crisis peaks, class expectations crumble and an unlikely love story develops. . . . James registers the tiny details of suffering and the book ends almost like a fever breaking, showing that such a scourge can randomly take out anything in its path, leaving behind misery, but also human dignity." ---"Time Out London" (four stars) " James skillfully conveys the suppressed panic and claustrophobia induced by the sudden and deadly prevalence of the disease. Yet members of the local community still find time to disapprove of [Henry and Allen] for their association. This is a muted but moving novel about the persistence of the ordinary during extraordinary times." ---"Financial Times"