Petals in the Ashes

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Petals in the Ashes Pub. Date: 7/2/2004 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

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Overview

This gripping account of London's Great Fire of 1666 is a worthy companion to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. Only one year after the city suffered such terrible losses during the Plague, London is recovering and Hannah convinces her parents that, with her younger sister Anne's help, she can return to the city and manage the sweetmeats shop on her own. The girls are thrilled to be back in London, and Hannah even finds her old beau, Tom, alive and well and working for a magician. But her newfound happiness is short-lived as fires begin to spring up around the city and quickly move closer to their shop. Finally, Hannah and Anne are forced to abandon their home to save their lives. When the fires have abated, the girls return to find their shop in ruins. They also find Tom, beaten and injured after being chased by a mob that blamed the magician for starting the fire. Despite their losses, Hannah is sure that one day she will rebuild her shop and once again trade under the sign of the sugared plum.

Hannah and Sarah escape London, leaving behind plague and death as well as their sweets shop, and when it is safe, Hannah and her younger sister Anne return, only to face the city's Great Fire of 1666.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

London, where sisters Hannah and Sarah ran the sweetmeats shop, is in turmoil once again in Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper, a sequel to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum, which PW called "a tale almost as tasty as the sisters' comfits." Fleeing London's plague, the siblings deliver Mrs. Beauchurch's baby, Grace, to her aunt, Lady Jane, in Dorchester. When the plague abates, Hannah and another sister, Anne, return to London, reunite with actress Nelly Gwyn, and must again attempt a daring escape as the Great Fire of 1666 rages through the city. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

Hannah and her sister Sarah have fled London and the plague in 1665. They have rescued a baby named Grace from a house where all others died of the plague. Readers meet the two resourceful sisters on their journey to deliver Grace to her rich aunt Lady Jane at Highclear House outside the city. How are the sisters and their precious cargo received? Instead of the thanks and praise the sisters anticipate, Lady Jane sends them to a "pesthouse" for a 40-day period of isolation. Readers will find themselves quickly caught up in the sisters' fate. Two sisters on a heroic mission relegated to a dirty, smelly house of sickness. The first chapter is full of rich details of the time and place and characters inhabiting Hannah and Sarah's world. Will the sisters and their infant charge survive the period of quarantine? And if they do, what does the future hold for them? Hannah is the narrator. She has left her true love back in London. The shop where she and Sarah make and sell sweetmeats in London has been shuttered. Images of the effects of the plague haunt the sisters. They cannot imagine how and when London will recover. As the year ends and a new one begins, the sisters learn that "a momentous change" has been predicted for 1666. The Book of Revelation says that 666 is the "number of the beast..." In Lily's Almanack, Hannah reads, " ' [t]he beast is capable of bringing fire from heaven and causing the houses of the mighty to fall.'" Although the sisters do not understand what this prediction means, it sets the tone for the fire that ravages London in 1666. Shortly after Hannah and Tom reunite and the shop is picking up business again, Hannah and her younger sister must flee the raging fire. Thispage-turner is a sequel to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. Readers will grow quite attached to Hannah, a strong female character, who grows stronger and more confident as she deals with external conflicts and internal yearnings. There are notes on the Great Fire of London at the back of the book, as well as recipes from the "Still Room," where 17th century women servants prepared scented waters, potpourri and balms. 2004, Bloomsbury Children's Books, Ages 12 up.
—Jeanne K. Pettenati, J.D.

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-After surviving the plague in London and using health certificates belonging to others, Hannah and her older sister Sarah manage to escape the city and take the baby of a noblewoman to her aunt. However, the anticipated warm welcome is not forthcoming, and the girls are quarantined in a pestilence house for 40 days to make sure that they are free of infection. When their good health is finally proven, they return home to Chertsey before returning to their sweetmeats shop in London. When Sarah decides to remain at home, Hannah returns to London with her younger sister Anne. Shortly thereafter, the Great Fire breaks out. In this sequel to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum (Bloomsbury, 2003), the chaos, terror, uncertainty, and horror of that tragedy are vividly portrayed. Hannah is a determined, sensitive, well-drawn heroine who deals courageously with the disaster. Hooper weaves an engrossing, fast-paced tale steeped in historical detail. Though it seems a bit too convenient when Hannah finds Tom, the boy she is fond of and who supposedly perished in the plague, this subplot simply adds another absorbing dimension to the story. This is exemplary historical fiction, skillfully combining reality and imagination. Quotes from Samuel Pepys's diary introduce each chapter, giving an even greater tone of authenticity.-Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Out of the frying pan, literally into the fire, the young London shopkeeper who witnessed the horrors of the Plague in At the Sign of the Sugared Plum (2003) returns to the City just in time to see most of it go up in the Great Fire of 1666. As she did previously, Hooper laces her tale with vivid historical and physical detail: Hannah goes from quarantine in a revolting "pesthouse" to a stay in a great manor; then while reopening her confectionary, she catches glimpses of the king, and of the period's unruly theatrical scene. Meanwhile she's riding an emotional rollercoaster as her beau, Tom, turns out not to be dead as reported, but working with a sinister quack styled Count de'Ath. Unlike the story, the fire starts slowly-but both build in parallel to a roaring climax. Readers not intimately acquainted with London's districts will be lost as Hooper traces the conflagration's course in exact detail. Still, those who stay the course will be rewarded with an exciting tale, enriched by a clear picture of life in Restoration London, and a protagonist able to shrug off losses, even of her treasured business, as long as her love life is looking up. (notes, recipes) (Historical fiction. 11-13)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781582349367
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 7/2/2004
Pages: 200
Age range: 8 - 12 Years
Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 8.12 (h) x 0.89 (d)

Meet the Author

Mary Hooper began writing about twenty years ago, often short stories for women's and teen magazines. She now focuses solely on books. She is the author of Amy and At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. Mary lives in Eversley Cross, England.

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Anonymous

Posted February 25, 2008

A reviewer

i luv adventure and romance this book is both i picture myself as hannah I LUV IT
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