The Plague Charmer – Karen Maitland

The Plague Charmer by Karen Maitland is set in the village of Portlock Weir near Exmoor in 1361 during the second wave of the plague. The villagers are poor and earn their living from the sea. The story begins with a ferocious storm and the body of a woman, Janiveer, being rescued from the sea. At first the villagers believe her to be dead but she is then revived. When she wakes Janiveer gives the villagers a choice, she will Will protect them from the oncoming pestilence but only if they sacrifice one of their own. 

At first the villagers refuse but in the storm’s aftermath a bundle is pulled out of the sea – a pair of children bound together. It is clear that one of them was dead when thrown overboard but the other was still alive when tossed into the stormy waters. As one village woman, Sara, takes the children into her home to inspects the bodies it becomes clear why the children were thrown overboard – the bodies bear the buboes of the plague. The rest of the villagers panic and seal Sara and her family up inside their home to prevent further spreading of the disease. But the plague soon starts picking the villagers off one by one. The village is then cut off from the ruling manor and they become desperate to find Janiveer and take her up on her offer. 

In true Maitland style there is a large cast of colourful and eccentric characters and several storylines running through the novel. We also see Porlock Manor where Sir Nigel Morning’s newly-wed niece, Christina, has produced a son but no-one believes that it is her new husband’s. We also see Sara’s two sons escape and get caught up in an underground cult run by the Prophet. 

One of the most interesting characters in the story, and my favourite, is Will. Will is an artificial dwarf who has been thrown out of the manor and has been living near the village stealing and scavenging food from the villagers. His story is so sad and interesting. I didn’t know anything about the practice of creating dwarfs where people where bound and kept confined in cages to deliberately stunt their growth. It sounds barbaric and truly awful. 

As with every Karen Maitland novel, there is no shying away from describing the horror the chracters suffer when the plague descends upon their village. There are hard-hitting scenes throughout with Sara’s family being shut up in darkness and the underground scenes with the Prophet. 

Another dark, atmospheric novel from Maitland who is a natural storyteller. Her ability to weave lots of different, complicated threads and bring them all together at just the right moment is amazing. As with all her books, I thoroughly recommend this novel.

The Vanishing Witch – Karen Maitland

What is Karen Maitland’s genre? Medieval historical fiction? Supernatural? Thriller? Suspense? Her books are a bit of all these things and they are great because of it.

A widow arrives in Lincoln with her two children in tow. She seems kind at first, offering to help wool merchant Robert care for his ill wife but then she moves in. Robert’s wife dies and then others start dying. Is witchcraft involved?

It is not entirely clear at first what Caitlin wants with Robert. Her children, Edward and Leonia, are both strange in their own ways. Edward is arrogant, lazy and disrespectful – not a nice man at all. Leonia is not as sweet and innocent as she seems and soon lures Robert’s young son, Adam, under her spell.

It kept me guessing. I couldn’t work out what Caitlin’s game was or what her children and housekeeper were about. There was loads of excellent twists.

The Vanishing Witch is also a story of rebellion. It takes place around the time of the Peasants Revolt which was a protest against the unfair poll tax being imposed on the people. We see the story of Gunter and Nonie who just have misery piled upon misery.

I will say the ghost narrator and his/her pet ferret was a bit strange but it all comes together and makes sense at the end of the novel.

Maitland is a dark writer but her stories are so atmospheric and engrossing. The story has it’s fair share of violence in it, but I think it’s true of the time period.

As with all Karen Maitland’s novels there is interesting parallels with the present day. Maitland published this in 2014 when the protests against the bedroom tax were at their height. We can also see the same wealth disparities people are so angry at today and the arrogance of those who benefit from the labour of the oppressed is still the same today as it was back then.

I love Karen Maitland’s books and am never disappointed. I’d recommend her to anyone.

The Raven’s Head – Karen Maitland

A little boy is removed from his family, renamed, and forced to live in a monastery with other boys in fear and horror at the secret rites that they are submitted to every night.

A scribe, Vincent, is angered by his lowly status, tries to trick his way to power, but finds himself on a long journey carrying a precious and treacherous silver raven’s head.

A young girl is drawn unwillingly into the spells, potions, schemes and obsessions of the evil lord who her village shuns.

These are the three protagonists in The Raven’s Head by Karen Maitland, set in rural Norfolk in 1224, and as their stories weave together and move forward they are drawn closer together by forces they cannot explain or escape. The narration switches between the three characters throughout the novel but I found that I cared equally about all three of them. They are victims of the superstitious, greedy and feudal world they live in, of the aristocracy and of the church – to escape they can rely only on themselves. Even parenthood is nothing to trust.

As in all Maitland’s novels, there is a lot of dark magic in this story. Vincent stumbles upon a secret powerful to destroy his master. With the arrogance of youth, he attempts to blackmail but it fails and Vincent finds himself on the run and in the possession of an intricately carved silver raven’s head. Any attempt to sell it fails, until he tries to palm it off on Lord Sylvian, the powerful alchemist with an all-consuming quest to find the secret of eternal life. Once again Vince finds his life in danger as Sylvian and his neighbours, the sinister group monks, the White Canons consider him a predestined sacrifice in their shocking experiment.

The author invokes the smells, sounds and sights of the age so well that it seems effortless. I read 200 pages in my first sitting. As ever Karen Maitland, known for her macabre and menacing tales, is the queen of the dark ages. There are so many twists and turns and I read the book so quickly. Though I will admit it is not as good as the other Karen Maitland novels, it wasn’t as scary but it was still good. It was dark and Gothic and all the things you would expect from Maitland who is so good at taking the threads of different characters stories and tying them together at the end for a brilliant climax. This era was an incredibly superstitious one, people looked for explanations to things that they could not understand, the characters believe the magic which makes the dark magic in Maitland’s novels seem real.

Liars and Thieves – Karen Maitland

Liars and Thieves is a short story by Karen Maitland reacquainting readers with the characters of Company of Liars. Company of Liars was brilliant, full of unexpected twists and brilliant characters. It was so good to revisit them. It made me want a sequel.

This story takes place in the middle of Company of Liars and sees the characters being captured by a band of outlaws. Narigorm is as scary as ever. However, now that I know the truth about Camelot it was hard to see him the same way.

A great short story with familiar characters.