“A parcel of patterns brought the plague to Eyam. A parcel sent up from London to George Vicars, a journeyman tailor, who was lodging with Mrs. Cooper in a cottage by the west end of the churchyard.”
“Uncertain as to how it is contracted and passed from one person to another, Mall forces herself to make a sacrifice that radically changes her life--she decides to stops seeing Thomas Torre, a man from another village, the man she hopes to marry.”
“So begins Mall Percival’s account of how her village of Eyam struggled against the plague. George Vicars dies on September 6, 1665, and by the end of October, twenty-five more townsfolk have been buried. ”
A stunning novel based on the true story of the Great Plague that came to Eyam, England in 1665, and nearly destroyed the village. The disease arrives in a parcel of dress patterns, and within 14 months, destroys 267 of the village’s 350 inhabitants.
The villagers of Eyam make the heartbreaking decision to voluntarily quarantine themselves inside the village limits until the plague has run its course.
Historians estimate that this act of selflessness, by preventing the spread of plague, saved hundreds of thousands of lives throughout England. It also tells us that for the next year, people from the surrounding villages left food and supplies outside the town so that Eyam would not starve.
“Although Mall longs to see Thomas, she remains steadfast in her resolution, until one day Thomas runs into the center of Eyam, knowing that he will not be allowed to leave, yet fearing that Mall has died.”
“Mall and Thomas marry, but their happiness is short-lived. Finally, in October of 1666, the pestilence subsides. Mall, overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, decides to write a chronicle of all she has witnessed in Eyam, hoping that it will set her free.”
″ In June of 1666, at their minister’s urging, the entire village makes a pact to protect those who live in the surrounding countryside by staying within the boundaries of Eyam.”
Pat and his friend John both know the risks they are running in taking a boat across the Channel in the spring of 1940. But they also know they have to do something to help the British soldiers stranded in Dunkirk.
“A story of friendship and growth for two teen-aged boys... A comprehensive presentation of many points of view (the professional soldier, the battle-scarred, the wife and mother) combines with understanding of adolescent psychology in a well-paced evocation of the way it was.”
John and Pat, two boys from completely different worlds, meet and become friends in England. Both boys are disappointed to be just a little too young to enlist in the war that has taken both of their fathers off to fight.
Together John and Pat make a daring plan to sail a boat across the English Channel to Dunkirk. Foolhardy as their plan may seem, the boys are sure they must do something to help the stranded British soldiers.
“The skies over Dunkirk were clear and the English Channel was like a millpond. In the book, however, one day was clear and the next was really foggy and cloudy and no rescue work could be done for a while. ”
it is about Dunkirk and the little boats that helped with the evacuation. I enjoyed John and Pat and their friendship. I liked seeing them work together to help someone.
“The German planes came and bombed and shot the men on the beach. In reality the German planes near Dunkirk were grounded because of heavy fog, rain, and clouds.”
The Dolphin Crossing is set in 1940 at the height of the Second World War, and concerns two boys: John, a boarding school boy, and Pat, an evacuee from a London slum.