Amazon.com description: Product Description: Set during the Great London Plague of 1665, this page-turner of a novel will keep readers riveted. Nell Bullen lives in a spacious manor home just outside the village of Branford. And it is from here that she observes the death and devastation when the plague arrives in the village. Having been to London, where hundreds have already died, Nell knows what's coming. But even she cannot imagine the bravery with which the villagers act. To avoid spreading the loathsome disease beyond Branford, the people create a "Circle of Death"--no one is allowed to enter or leave the town. And every day, with the plague at its highest point, the church bell tolls for yet another villager.

Author William Wise was inspired to write this extraordinary novel by a New York Times article about the village of Eyam, the real town upon which Branford is based. To this day, villagers of Eyam celebrate the courage of their ancestors.