The Plague Tales - Ann Benson (1997)
Earlier I had read The Physicians Tale by Ann Benson, and only realised half way through that it was the third in a series. So The Plague Tales is the first of the series, and establishes two stories. The first of the fourteenth centuary Jewish Physician Alejandro Canches, who finds himself expelled from Spain after being caught doing an autopsy. Eventually he finds himself with the family of Edward III, in the midst of the plague.

In modern day England, a small sample of cloth and dirt, dug up from an old grave, realeases the plague into modern society. Janie Crowe is a medical archeologist, who has come over from the states to do research, and she finds herself caught up at the beginning of an outbreak.

3/5 - the story was beginning to make sense now, although I was confused by the last two paragraphs, where the young daughter has the name of the police/biocop from the UK. Now I am going to have to read the second book.

The Physicians Tale - Ann Benson

The Physician's Tale - Ann Benson (2006)
A plague tale is always of interest to me, especially as the swine flu sweeps across New Zealand at the moment, and our city is the capital with the most recorded cases. So this book which tells two tales, one of Alejandro a Jewish Spanish physician, who is Europe and England at the time of the plague and the black death. Trying to reach Windsor to rescue his daughter Kate from King Edward, he risks the lives of his loved ones as they are searched and hunted down.

Six centuaries later, in the American Northwest a small group of women, men and children are trying to stay isolated and survive after a devastating return of the plague has changed the way the world works. Janie Crowe seeks to find answers and uses an old journal of the Jewish Doctor to help.

A bit long winded, it was a good winters read but I felt I was enjoying the historical storyline better than the more modern one, and am not sure if I really understood the end of the story and the part about cloning was a bit lost on me. Maybe I was tired when I read that part, but I don't really understand why it was necessary, and I would have enjoyed a bit more info about the twist in the tale (I don't want to give it away). 3/5

Ahh - I have rust read on Amazon about the earlier books, this is really book 3 in a series, and I need to now go and read the others so that I can understand the full story. Silly me.

I hope swine flu doesn't get wore, our hospital is packed at the moment and everyone is a bit stressed. I'm trying to eat lots of oranges, and stocked up on the fancy feast, baked beans and toilet paper.