The Great Mortality by John Kelly

'Believing it to be the end of the world, no one wept for the dead, for all expected to die' AGNOLO DI TURO, Siena 1348

The second worst catastrophe in recorded history, the Black Death is exceeded only by World War II in the number of casualties and the amount of social suffering it caused.

In just over 1000 days from 1347 to 1351 the plague swept across Europe, killing an estimated 25 million people and touching the lives of every individual. Not knowing the cause of this disaster, many turned to hedonism, convinced that God had abandoned his children; others sought solace in self-flagellation or in the violent excesses of a terrible wave of anti-Semitism.

In The Great Mortality John Kelly retraces the journey of this still extant disease, using original source material - diary fragments, letters and manuscripts - to tell the story of its rapid spread from Italy all the way to England. It is a harrowing portrait of a continent gripped by an epidemic, but also a compendium of extraordinary personal stories. 

'A compellingly vivid account. Kelly's prose moves with brushfire speed...as exciting as a first-class TV drama-documentary' GUARDIAN

'Kelly is a reliable guide, with a gift for providing racy and vivid background for those who know nothing of the Middle Ages' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY