Anna Abney – The Master of Measham Hall

‘The Master of Measham Hall’ by Anna Abney is a sumptuous historical fiction book set in Restoration England of the 1700s.

It is 1665 and five years since King Charles the second has returned from exile. The scars of the English Civil Wars are yet to heal and now the Great Plague engulfs the land. Alethea Hawthorne is safe inside the walls of the Calverton household as a lady’s companion waiting in anticipation of the day she can return to her ancestral home of Measham Hall. But when Alethea suddenly finds herself cast out on the plague-ridden streets of London, a long road to Derbyshire lies ahead. Militias have closed their boroughs off to outsiders for fear of contamination.

Fortune smiles on her when Jack appears, an unlikely travelling companion who helps this determined girl to navigate a perilous new world of religious dissenters, charlatans and a pestilence that afflicts peasants and lords alike.

I adored the cover of this book, it was the first thing that definitely drew me in. It made me feel that a rich and historically detailed story was nestled under that front cover. The fact that Anna Abney is among the last descendants of the Abney family, former residents of Measham Hall in Derbyshire. This is a fictionalised account of her ancestors lives. It made me feel like the story was almost personal. It gave that closeness, as if I wasn’t reading about a stranger somehow.

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The fact that it was historical fiction and I was given a lot of information about the times and the setting didn’t make me feel overloaded with information. I, instead felt like I had been positively saturated with it all and it gave me a feeling that I could be there, with Alethea, queueing for a potion to keep the plague away. As we all know now, there were usually concoctions made up to rob people of money but did nothing. The desperation of the people and Alethea as she handed the money over and gained a potion for herself too just broke my heart…knowing the potions did nothing.

As always, I began this book for entertainment purposes. By the time I had done I discovered a lot about the times. I was unaware of a lot of things and again I was educated, my favourite type of book.

Alethea herself is a young woman who as the story unfolds decides to begin a journey to return to her family home, Measham Hall. We see her mature from a young girl during this time into a mature woman who begins to understand the way of the world and takes it upon herself to solve issues in her kind, caring, unique and courageous way. She is definitely a character who I could easily root for throughout the book.

This is one story that if you feel like you would enjoy reading I say, go for it. It encompasses so many things, religion being one and how women are treated is another. I did marvel at how the story of the plague mirrored what we see happening with Covid today and how it is being handled, that was just a thought I had while reading it.

A book that is very thought-provoking and doesn’t necessarily unfold in the way one would expect for a story set in the 1660s. This is one book I would highly recommend for sure.

Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Duckworth for my gorgeous copy of ‘The Master Of Measham Hall’.