The Plague

My Side of the Story

by Philip Wooderson

My Side of the Story is a completely unique approach to historical fiction. Read the story of one youngster's life in turbulent times, then flip the book and find out firsthand how another child reacts to the conclusion of events-with very different feelings and ideas! Rachel is a young girl living in London in 1665. The dreaded disease, the plague, is taking hold of the city, and everyone is fearful for his or her life. Rachel and her best friend, Robert, worry they might be next in line. Then the unthinkable happens-Rachel becomes infected . . . Robert's father forbids him to see his best friend, Rachel, in case he falls victim to the plague too. But Robert won't just sit back and let his friend die. Can their friendship survive during this dark, dark hour in England's history?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Young Adult, Juvenile

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Philip Wooderson is an author, creative editor, and co-director of the Limnisa centre for writers in Greece.
His fiction for children and young adults has been published in the UK and US, and translated in several languages. His series, the Nile Files, was used by the Times to promote the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 Centre in London.
He graduated in history at the University of Sussex.
More recently he has turned his attention to adult historical fiction. His latest work, Acropolis, a novel in two volumes, Curse of Athena and Wind of Hermes are now available in paperback and kindle editions.

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. I think the My Side of the Story idea is cute. I read the one about the Salem Witch Trials and really enjoyed it. I didn't like this one as much... some of the descriptions of the death and dying turned my stomach.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book looked interesting to me because I enjoy historical fiction and I thought the book's format was interesting. You start by reading the book from the perspective of a female protagonist and then flip the book over and the story continues through the eyes of a male main character. I did like the format and the topic was interesting, but character and plot development are weak. I would have also liked to have seen a few reference pages on the history of the plague. I almost gave this 3 stars - wish I could do 2.5.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wooderson, Philip The Plague: My side of the story, 192 p. Houghton –

Rachel and Robert’s lives intersect in her father’s shop, where Robert is the apprentice, just as the plague takes hold in 1665 London. Even as the plague devastates London and moves into the villages, someone is trying to ruins Rachel’s father’s cloth business.

This book is written back to back, with the reader having to flip the book in order to finish. The hype on the inside would have you believe that both sides give different, and possibly conflicting, views of the same action. Instead, one is really only a continuation of the other – and I started reading the wrong one first and knew the end before I had even begun! It really is necessary to read Rachel’s story first. Other than that quirk, the novel is a middle quality read that adds little to the drama around the Black Death.

EL, MS-OPTIONAL

[Carolanne wollin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this two part flip book. Half was written from the perspective of Rachel the other from master Robert. I might do some research on the plague. Very interesting.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Plague is a book written in a rather unique style; it is actually more like two books in one. The first half of the book is told from the perspective of one character; then, in the second half of the book, the story continues from the point of view of the first character’s cousin. I really liked the idea, and wish I had ended up liking the actual book more.

The first part of this story is narrated by Rachel, a young girl living in London in 1665, at the time of the great plague that devastated the city. She had lived a rather comfortable, middle class life, as the daughter of a merchant. The plague changes all that, and in addition to her worries about whether she and her family will survive and escape the diseased city, she doesn’t know what happened to her cousin, Robert, who disappeared at the beginning of the story. The second half of the story is told by Robert who explains what happened to him and how he eventually reunites with Rachel and the rest of his family as the plague spreads to the countryside.

I have read and enjoyed several other books about the plague in London in 1665 - in particular I really enjoyed two others, At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper, which is written for young adults, and The Great Plague by Pamela Oldfield, from the My Story series, which is for middle grade readers. So I had hoped I might really like this book as well. But the plot was rather weak and I think it might have been better if the book was just about the characters’ struggles to survive during the plague rather than adding in a poorly developed and not very interesting mystery. I think the narration was actually supposed to be a diary or memoir written by the main characters but it wasn’t entirely clear. In addition the details of the plague seemed a bit much for a middle grade novel and might disturb younger readers. I’m not really sure who I’d recommend this book to, if anyone, maybe young adult readers who are extremely interested in the time period the story is set in and who are looking for a quick read. The Plague truly isn’t the most awful book, but it's not very good either, and there are just so many better books out there, including others about the same historical events.

[Sage crandall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book The Plague is a split story between Rachel Hopgood and Robert Duncan. As the two struggle to fight away the plague it only gets harder as the plague spreads. They soon realize that a letter was intercepted and held information that their allies are part of something bigger than the city. …
This book is full of mystery and death. With the plague out of control death is more likely than life. This kept the book always on edge with who would live and who would die. I Liked this book and its characters.
I recommend this book to mostly people who are into mystery. Also people who like learning about history through a story that didn’t happen (historical fiction). This book will entertain those who like stories that are racing the clock. It will mostly entertain teens and small teens.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept for a novel where the same events are told by two different perspectives. For one half of the novel, the story is told by Rachel, then once you’ve finished her side, you flip the book over and start on Robert’s side of the tale.

Aimed at children/YA, ‘The Plague’ is quite a gritty, and at times graphic, novel but considering I was reading things like Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Stephen King round a similar age, I don’t think it’s too disturbing for the age group that it is intended.

I enjoy historical fiction and I did enjoy this novel. Wooderson’s writing is good, a few grammatical errors but assuming a fault during the editing process, and he writes well for the age group he is aiming at. As an adult reading this, his writing may become a tad tedious but you need to remember who he has aimed the book at in the first place.

I’ve read a few novels about the plague, this being the first aimed at YA, so was interesting for me to read about the horrors of what happened through a child’s point of view. It’s a very quick read (each part of the book is 96 pages each) but now I’ve finished it, it has left me a tad dissatisfied, but only because I want more details.

This a good place to start if you’re interested in historical fiction and about the plague in general, but if, like me, it leaves you wanting more at the end of, I strongly recommend you get hold of ‘Year of Wonders’ by Geraldine Brooks to read straight afterwards.
Year of Wonders

[Laughholly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is geared toward young adults, but I find sometimes that's a great way to get history that isn't too dry. I work for a publisher and was bugged by some grammatical errors, but I did get some nice details, as I did from "In a Dark Wood, Wandering." Life was dirty, smelly, and gross, but it's so interesting to know specifically HOW. The plot didn't always rivet me, but that's OK because I'm not 13. I got history, which is what I wanted.

[Kasey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this in the Children's section at my library and I thought it looked good but I was shocked because the descriptions of death and torture were not what I would want my kids to read. I also found the story difficult to understand, even for me, a college student. The story was good though and I do reccomend it to a young adult audience.

[Aasma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very amusing way of teaching people about this event in history. This book is a page-turner filled with suspense, emotion and the horrible truth about that period in time.