At the sign of the Sugared Plum. (Hardcover Fiction).

HOOPER, Mary. At the sign of the Sugared Plum. Bloomsbury. 167p. c2003. 1-58234-849-9. $16.95. JS

This historical novel for YAs uses quotes from Samuel Pepys's diary as each chapter heading, since it takes place at the time he was writing, in 1665, when thousands of Londoners were dying from the plague. Sarah comes to London from a little village to help her older sister in a little shop that sells sweets: candied rose petals, marzipan, candied orange peels, etc. (there are recipes at the end of the book). Even though the smells and sights are overpoweringly awful from the filth everywhere. Sarah enjoys the excitement of being in crowds of people. She falls in love with Tom, who is an apprentice at the local apothecary's shop. She also reunites with a friend from her village, who works as a servant in a wealthy household (this connection becomes crucial to the plot).

Soon after Sarah's arrival, the plague starts killing people--in fact, a house in their neighborhood is quarantined, as the occupants die one by one. Sarah and her sister are good people who try to help those who are suffering and at least attend funerals to honor the dead. As the summer wears on, however, the death figures are in the thousands each week, and people are buried in mass graves, corpses hauled away unceremoniously in death carts. Only the rich and powerful are able to obtain special passes to escape London, so Sarah and her sister can only stay and hope they don't succumb to the illness.

Hooper has done her research well: all the details about the disease and how people dealt with it are accurately grotesque (and will appeal to YA readers who like the macabre). Because Sarah visits the apothecary, we learn about the remedies people trusted. (See also The House on Hound Hill, reviewed as paperback fiction in this issue of KLIATT, also about the Black Death in London in the summer of 1665,) Claire Rosser.