Gino cracked the skull into pieces, dropped the fragments into a mortar, and began the arduous task of grinding them into a fine white powder...
The Blurb
Set in the 1300s during the devastating black plague, The Blackest Time is a powerful tale of compassion, love, and the human spirit’s ability to endure immense adversity.
Gino, the central character, is a young man who leaves his family’s farm to find work in a pharmacy in Florence. His experiences show us how people coped in the most horrific time in history.
Shortly after Gino arrived in the city, two years of incessant rain destroyed crops in the countryside, leading to famine and despair in the city. Gino offers hope and help to the suffering— he secures shelter for a woman forced to leave her flooded farm, rescues a young girl orphaned by the plague, and aids others who have lost everything.
The rains had barely ended when the plague hit the city, exposing the true character of its people. While some blamed others for the devastation, the story focuses on the compassionate acts of neighbors helping each other overcome fear and suffering. Doctors bravely risk infection to care for their patients. A woman healer, wrongly accused of witchcraft and driven from the city, finds a new beginning in a village where her skills were appreciated.
Despite the hardships, love blossoms between Gino and a young woman he met at the apothecary. Together they survive, finding strength in each other and hope in a world teetering on the edge.
The Blackest Time is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in overcoming unimaginable tragedy.
My Review
Through the lens of the main character, Gino, we get a glimpse of Italian history during the 14th century.
Set in Florence, we follow young Gino, who has left his poor family farm in Poppi to seek work as an apothecary's assistant. Through his work in the apothecary, we meet some interesting characters, and the author does a good job of depicting them.
Florence is going through one of its worst periods in history. First, a long period of rain and flooding means that none of the crops can grow, and a large-scale famine ensues. Finally, as life begins to look more hopeful for the city when the rain comes to an end, Florence is hit by the Black Plague.
I felt fully immersed in the time and setting of this novel. The author does a great job of immersing the reader in this horrendous situation, and whilst we observe that people are suffering in their homes and on the streets, it was never portrayed in a sensationalist way.
Instead, Gino is an unassuming hero. He has a good and kind heart and will help people in any way that he can, despite his own difficult circumstances as he watches society collapse around him. He is a resilient young man who I was rooting for with every turn of the page.
I recommend this book to those who enjoy historical fiction.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1685136536
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Formats: e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)
No. of Pages: 268 (paperback)
Purchase Links
About the Author
Ken Tentarelli is a frequent visitor to Italy. In travels from the Alps to the southern coast of Sicily, he developed a love for its history and its people.
He has studied Italian culture and language in Rome and Perugia, background he used in his award-winning series of historical thrillers set in the Italian Renaissance. He has taught courses in Italian history spanning time from the Etruscans to the Renaissance, and he's a strong advocate of libraries and has served as a trustee of his local library and officer of the library foundation.
When not travelling, Ken and his wife live in beautiful New Hampshire.
You can also find Ken at:
(ARC and media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)
(all opinions are my own)
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