Old Saint Paul's : A Tale of the Plague and the Fire Paperback – 19 Oct 2009

A contemporary of Dickens and a fellow author of serialized tales, Ainsworth plundered history for back drops to his tales. His powers of writing cannot be compared to Dickens and his narrative has a Victorian stilted quality. Pious virtue is shoehorned in ( doubtless to allow his works the benefit of Sabbath reading).This is a tale of virtue rewarded and evil punished in 17th century London. The hero is appallingly worthy, the villain, double dyed. Nevertheless the story is moved at a pace that compels and if a good story is what you look for, you can revel in this. There is good description and some research ( although the far from contemporary Defoe is cited as a source).

I downloaded this book over two years ago, and the lag in time between purchase and reading has more to do with my downloading habits rather than a comment on the book. William Harrison Ainsworth was an author who was writing novels from about 1829 onwards, and wrote many historical novels, now largely forgotten, so unlike what I first supposed when downloading this book, he wasn't contemporary with the events. I was expecting something more in line with William Defoe's account of the plague, but was not disappointed in the novel.If you don't normally read period literature, the language might deter you, and there are certainly many terms no longer in common use. I was intrigued by some of the names used for plague remedies and mean to look them up! This book is a fascinating insight into the mores of the times, Charles II is an amoral rogue with a licentious court who think nothing of abduction and rape of the lower orders, not the fun loving King he is mostly portrayed as today.The book follows the literary habits of the day, all the heroes are portrayed as fair, strong and handsome and the villains as swarthy, ugly and/or deformed and you can be sure that the moral line is hammered home by the end of the book. If you don't mind this certain level of predictability it is a romping good yarn and in it's way still cries out to be the subject of a period drama.Personally I was fascinated by the attitudes to the causes of the plague, with preachers exhorting the London populace to repent their evil ways or continue to feel God's wrath and people convinced that breathing the evil effluvia would infect them with plague to the modern knowledge of the part that the Black Rat and it's fleas had in spreading the infection.This novel gets a thumbs up from me, even with it's dated feel and the prejudices of the time it was written and has left me feeling I should revise my history of those plague years and The Great Fire of London!

William Harrison Ainsworth is an author of the 19th century; his most well-known work is The Lancashire Witches which I would recommend more than Old St. Pauls.Old St. Pauls is a story set against the background of the Plague and Great Fire of London of the 17th century. It took me a while to work out whether it was a serious book or supposed to be a comedy. It is in fact more of a Victorian melodrama. Part of the story centres around the "romance" between the Earl of Rochester and Amabel Bloundel, a grocer's daughter. Once this is out of the way the story takes on a more interesting aspect when it describes the effects of the Plague and subsequently the Great Fire of London. Ainsworth gives his characters some strange names - Chowles the coffin-maker and Pillichody, one of the earl's henchman who sounds more like a pantomime character than the ruffian he is supposed to be, and Lord Argentine (an Englishman not a South American). It's an OK read but not one I would really recommend for modern readers.

I know that this is a fictional dramatization based on facts and supposition surrounding the plague and the great fire of the 17th century. However, WHA does give the reader a sense of the times, superstition, religious zealots, profligacy and opportunism. It also gives a sense of the panic that took hold of the inhabitants of London, firstly of the plague and secondly of the fire.If this had not been a fictional story, I would be astounded by the naivety of the characters. How could anyone trust someone who had lied and committed so many deceptions is beyond me. I would have been suspicious of some of the characters, despite their disguises, due to knowledge of certain characters' aims and enemy to friend to enemy again. Why, knowing their character would the same person keep believing that person?

This is another engaging novel by Ainsworth, in my view a very underrated 19th century author of historical fiction. The characters are romantic stereotypes, of course, but who cares when it is this much fun. Charles II makes an appearance here, as do, briefly, Christopher Wren and Samuel Pepys. The horrors of the plague are well described, drawing heavily on Defoe's Journal of a Plague Year , though occasionally the plot does become a little repetitive and tiresome with endless disguises and deceptions. The final sixth of the novel deals with the Fire and is magnificently exciting and dramatic as the flames spread over the city of London and St Paul's itself finally tumbles. Great stuff. 5/5

An in depth look at the London of the Plague and the great fire. Brilliantly researched - even the most strange and unlikely characters can be found with a quick Google!Written as a novel it is fascinating, heart-breaking and occasionally funny!Don't miss this one even though it appears dated!

A seemingly contemporary tale of the plague and fire of London built around the fate of one family, their friends and enemies It makes a good read with much detail about the causes and spread of the plague and fire made more readable by being tied closely to the welfare of one family and their servants.

I chose this rating because I thought it was quite good tale but feel that the style of writing is purely personal choice. The descriptions give quite an atmospheric feel of old London. I felt that it could be likened to 'Dickens' so if you like him...then give it a go!

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One thing I learned long ago is that just because a book is old and written in a style modern readers may no longer appreciate, doesn't mean it should be ignored, and this book is a fine example of it. Ainsworth proves he is an outstanding writer as he tells his tale of romance and horror as he describes the way the plague ravaged London in the 1660s, and ends the book with an incredible description of the great fire of London.Ainsworth tells us upfront that the book is based on a small volume called "preparations against the plague" that is attributed to Defoe. I have not read that particular work, so I can't comment on on how much of it was copied from that work. I can only talk about "Old St. Paul's" itself.Like a lot of works from this time period (1841) you need to have a bit of patience while the plot develops, although it develops more quickly than many works from this era. The author focuses on a single family of London, a successful grocer, Stephen Bloundel and his family, and especially on his daughter, Amabel (that is not a typo, that is the correct spelling) and his apprentice, Leonard Holt.Leonard is infatuated with Amabel. But, unfortunately, so is just about every other male in London, including a notorious libertine well known for seducing and ruining the lives of attractive young women.Meanwhile the plague is approaching London, and beginning to attack the outskirts of the city. The grocer develops a plan for locking himself and his household into his large home, isolating the entire family from the rest of the city, and hoping to avoid the plague.I thought the book was going to turn out to be a mere romance novel, but it is far, far more than that. The descriptions of the way the plague ravages London are incredible. It's hard to imagine the horror of it, the way the sick were teated, and the 'plague pits', the mass graves where bodies of the victims were unceremoniously dumped. And as is the case during every tragedy, there are people who are willing to take advantage of the situation to make a profit. The town abounds with quacks selling every manner of fake remedies, taking advantage of the desperate and the sick.The book is long and convoluted and detailed, and I was fascinated with it right up until the very end. It concludes with an incredible description of the great fire of London.I just don't have the space to delve into everything that goes on in the book, and I don't want to spoil anything for potential readers. So take a look at the book. After all, the price is right.

It was a little long and sometimes wordy, but I didn't want the story to end. I Love historical novels. This is the first I've read about the plague of the 1660's. It's hard to imagine the atrocities that were an every day occurrence of that period but this described many of them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this interesting take on historical events. Written in the style of the time, in which it was written, the vivid descriptions gloriously bring Old London to life.

I really love to read old books. This made the world of the olden days live. I could feel the fear of the plague and understand why they thought everyone would die

great

One of the best historical books I've read in a long time.You get to know the characters well, and want to know what happens to them. Because it was written in the mid 1800`s, the language is a bit different, other than that, a great read!

This was really good. This is also a very long book. Researched very well. You have to like detail plus

I liked the story but too much description of everything around it. Kept skipping over the descriptions. WAY TOO MUCH!

This book was a great look at the London Plague in a fictional way.It was quite long, but worth the journey.

Chosen because I enjoyed Harrison Ainsworth's "Lancashire Witches" and now seeking more of this author despite the need for more concentration than many more recent books, well worth the effort.