To Calais, In Ordinary Time

James Meek

From Shelf: May or May Not Have Happened Just Like This - Big Old Historical and Tricksy Neo-Historical Fiction

The new novel about home, belonging, love, courage and identity, set in the fourteenth century, from the Booker-longlisted author of The People's Act of Love

'Inventive and original' The Times'Fans of intelligent historical fiction will be enthralled' Hilary MantelShortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political FictionThree journeys. One road.England, 1348. A gentlewoman flees an odious arranged marriage, a proctor sets out for a monastery in Avignon and a young ploughman in search of freedom is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais. In the other direction comes the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe.To Calais, In Ordinary Time is an exploration of love, death and power, against the backdrop of catastrophe.