By Paul Carrier
In 14th-century England, a woman desperate to evade an arranged marriage, a proctor bound for Avignon and a company of archers find themselves traveling together en route to France.
As they meander toward the coast of England by foot, horse and cart, the voyagers seem fated to collide with an implacable enemy that is northbound from continental Europe: the Black Death.
The members of this unlikely band have little in common beyond what is, for most of them, a shared “Englishness.” Yet over time, at least some of them develop greater self-awareness and a deeper understanding of their companions in James Meek’s credible and memorable rendition of a medieval world whose residents are much like us, yet quite different as well.
Meek’s novel explores themes of gender, class, violence and bigotry. And, of course, mortality. His use of Briticisms, some of them archaic, can be challenging initially, but readers will quickly come to learn that “pintle” is penis, “rood” is crucifix, “steven” is voice, etc.
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