PLAGUE: A Cross on the Door

In the hot summer of 1665 the plague comes to London. Nine-year-old Sam is a servant boy with no family of his own. When his master dies, Sam is locked up in the empty building with a cross on the door to mark it as a plague house, and only his master’s dog, Budge, for company. Can Sam and Budge escape? And if they do, where can they go and how will they survive?

THE GREAT FIRE: A City in Flames

Last year was the hardest of Sam’s life. He and his dog Budge survived the plague, but Sam lost his friends, his master and his home. Luckily, he’s been taken in as a servant by the Giraud family – though André, the Girauds’ son, doesn’t make life easy. One night a fire breaks out in Pudding Lane. Before anyone fully realises what’s happening, London’s burning. Now it’s time for Sam to prove what he’s really worth – if he can get out alive…

These two stories about the Great Plague and Great Fire of London are published by A&C Black with the National Archives.

PLAGUE: A Cross on the Door
Publication date 25 April 2013. ISBN: 978-1-4081-8687-9