Old Saint Paul's: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire

"Old Saint Paul's: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire" by William Harrison Ainsworth is a historical fiction novel that paints a vivid picture of London during the harrowing year of the Great Plague in 1665. The story centers on Stephen Bloundel, a religious grocer, and his family as they navigate the terror and devastation brought by the relentless disease. The novel explores themes of faith, love, survival, and the stark contrast between human kindness and jealousy against the backdrop of widespread death and societal breakdown. The initial chapters introduce the Bloundel family, deep in prayer, as the grocer wrestles with his belief that London's sins have unleashed this plague upon them. Trouble erupts when their eldest son starts showing symptoms of the sickness. Simultaneously, the narrative introduces a love triangle involving Bloundel's daughter, Amabel, caught between the affections of Leonard, a hardworking apprentice, and Maurice Wyvil, an attractive and charming gentleman as the story begins to intensify the horror of the personal and public disasters.