Synopsis

In 1665, London was a merry place.  Five years after the Restoration of Charles II the city had turned its back on Puritanism and re-embraced brothels, theatre, gambling and bear baiting.

Then, almost as if it were a judgement, the Black Death swept in, the worst outbreak since the 1300’s, with at least a third of London wiped out within a year.  Those who could afford it fled to the country, including the royal court, while doctors and quacks desperately blended herbs, and bonfires burned on every corner to “purify” the air.  No one knew how the contagion was spread, no one knew how to stop it.

Matthias, an alchemist, has bankrupted himself trying to find a cure and has been thrown into prison for debt.  There he is joined by Hannah, a crafty plague nurse, held for raising a riot, and a young, pregnant thief, Jennet, who is sentenced to hang as soon as her babe is born.  All three of them are busy plotting against each other when the pestilence arrives in Newgate. 

While the other inmates - believing they are doomed - indulge in debauchery and drunkenness and the macabre Dance of Death, Matthias begs his cellmates to help him make his sure-fire remedy.  Unfortunately, the missing ingredient is gold - something they have no hope of obtaining without resorting to the only currencies they do have: sex, wit and lies.  When the potion fails and the last turnkey dies, they find they are suddenly able to walk free - but with a thousand victims a day dying on the streets outside perhaps they would do better to bar the door, stay put, and survive - if they can survive each other.

Characters