{"product_id":"the-plague-talesisbn-9780440225911","title":"The Plague Tales","description":"From the bestselling author of \u003cb\u003eThe Plague Tales\u003c\/b\u003e comes a spellbinding new novel that sweeps from medieval France to America in the year 2007—interweaving two gripping stories and two extraordinary eras....\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn fourteenth-century France, pockets of plague still bring death to peasants and noblemen alike.  Amid the fury and the chaos, Dr. Alejandro Canches searches for a safe haven, accompanied by his foster child, Kate—the illegitimate daughter of Edward Plantagenet.  But both disease and human enemies pursue them, and their only hope for survival is a rebel leader...  and medical secrets that lie hidden in an ancient manuscript.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeven hundred years later, Dr. Janie Crowe is searching for the cure for a crippling disease in a world where genetic engineering has gone mad.  A repressive government wants to stop her, unnamed benefactors want to help her, and time is running out to find answers linking two dark eras, two dedicated doctors, and one miraculous book....\"A riveting medical thriller...  cleverly combines two stories, separated by centuries.\"—\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gripping...exciting and complex.\"—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDon't miss Ann Benson's bestselling debut novel:  \u003cb\u003eThe Plague Tales\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Part historical novel, part futuristic adventure...  chock full of curious lore and considerable suspense.\" —\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003eAnn Benson lives in Connecticut with her husband and is the mother of two grown daughters. She is also the author of the acclaimed novels \u003cb\u003eThe Plague Tales, The Burning Road, \u003c\/b\u003eand\u003cb\u003e Thief of Souls\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003ci\u003e1358\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen had Alejandro Canches last read the language on the  papyrus before him? It would not come clear to his sleepy mind. In  Spain, he thought; no, France, when I was first here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAh, yes, he remembered, it was in England. The letter from my  father, left behind when we fled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe struggled to reach back into the memory of that time, to push aside the veil  of the years, for nestled dormant beneath the bitter wisdom of manhood was the  sweet eagerness of the boy he had once been, the one who had studied these  letters by candlelight under the careful scrutiny of his family. He had found  pleasure in the task, while other boys his age complained. Of what use is  all this studying? they would say. Soon we shall all be forced to  speak Spanish anyway.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf we are not killed before then, he recalled thinking at the  time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first page was done, its symbols unlocked, the words finally revealed. He  felt the pride of that small boy, and the hunger for praise that never died. He  ached to the depths of his immortal soul to do more, but his mortal body seemed  determined to forbid him that joy. Would he awaken later in a cold pool of his  own spittle, with the letters smeared to ruin beneath his cheek? Or would the  candle burn down while he snored with his chin on his chest, and spread its wax  upon the leaves? He could not allow either.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe carefully turned back the papyrus pages and read to himself again what he\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ehad translated. The symbols, applied with aching precision in the purest gold,  ran right to left on the page.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e abraham the jew, prince, priest, levite,  astrologer, and philosopher, to the nation of the jews,  by the wrath of god dispersed among the gauls, sendeth health.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn these pages, the apothecary had claimed, there were great secrets. And it\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewas only because he was in desperate straits, the rogue had further said, that  he would consider parting with such a treasure. So the young woman who called  Alejandro Canches her pere had reached into the pocket of  her skirt on a trip to the apothecary shop and extracted the gold coin he  insisted she always carry, should they somehow be separated, and boldly  exchanged the coin for the book. Alejandro had sent her out for herbs, and she  had returned with leaves of a different sort. She had known what it would mean  to him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe glanced across the small dark cottage in which they made their home of the  moment, and smiled at her sleeping form. \"I have taught you well, then,\" he  said quietly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStraw crinkled as the young woman shifted. Her soft voice drifted through the  darkness, affectionate but chiding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Pere? Are you still awake?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Aye, child,\" he said, \"your book will not let me go.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am no longer a child, Pere. You must call me by my name, or  \"daughter,' if that pleases you. But not \"child.' And it is  your book, but I begin to regret buying it for you. Now you must go  to bed and give your eyes some peace.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My eyes do not lack peace. They have far too much peace. They are hungry for  the words on these pages. And you must never regret this  acquisition.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe rose up on one elbow and rubbed the sleep from her face. \"I shall if you\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewill not heed your own warning that too much use will ruin the  eyes.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe peered through the semidarkness at the young woman who had grown up so fine  and lovely under his care, so straight and strong and fair. Only the barest  hints of child-flesh remained on her face and fingers, and soon, he knew, that  too would melt away, along with her innocence. But the rosy blush of girlhood  still lingered on her cheeks, and Alejandro wished silently that it would  remain just a little longer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe has become a woman, he admitted to himself. This notion was  accompanied by a familiar twinge that he had yet to define to his own  satisfaction, though he often thought \"helpless joy\" to be as close a  description of it as he would ever find. It had lurked in his heart since the  day, a decade before, when he'd suddenly found himself with this child to  raise, and had grown as he discovered that despite his considerable learning,  he was no better prepared than an unlettered man for the task. Although some\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003emen seemed to know just what to do and when to do it, he himself was not a man  who did the work of mothering with natural grace. He thought it God's cruel  trick that the Black Death had claimed so many mothers--it was they who  had labored alongside the physicians to bring comfort to their dying husbands  and children, and then because of their proximity had died themselves in  terrible numbers. And though he abhorred the dearth of mothers and physicians,  Alejandro wished that more priests had been taken. Those who had survived were  the ones who had locked themselves away for the sake of self-preservation while  their brothers perished in service. He considered them a thoroughly scurrilous  lot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had done his solitary best for the girl, without a wife, for he would not\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003esully the memory of the woman he had loved in England by marrying for mere  convenience. And Kate had never complained of her lack of mothering. She had\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ereached the threshold of womanhood with unusual grace and now stood ready to\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ecross it. As the motherless ward of a renegade Jew, she had, through some  unfathomable miracle, become a creature worthy of awe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe lovely creature spoke. \"Please, Pere, I beg you to heed your own  wisdom. Go to sleep. Otherwise I shall have to do your reading for you when you  are an old man.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis brought a smile to his lips. \"May God in His wisdom grant that I shall  live long enough to know such a worry. And that you shall still be with me when  I do.\" He closed the manuscript carefully. \"But you are right. I should go to  sleep. Suddenly the straw seems terribly inviting.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe moved the tome aside so it would not be splattered with wax, then placed one  hand behind the candle flame and drew in a breath to blow it out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was a knock on the door.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir heads turned in tandem toward the unfamiliar sound, and Kate's voice came  through the darkness in a frightened whisper. \"Pere?  Who--?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Shhh, child . . . be silent,\" he whispered  back. He sat frozen in the chair, the light of the candle still flickering  before him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe knock came again, then a man's firm, strong voice. \"I beg you, I am in  need of a healer . . . the apothecary sent me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlejandro shot an alarmed glance at Kate, who sat trembling on her straw bed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewith the wool cover pulled up protectively around her neck. He leaned closer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eand said in an urgent whisper, \"How does he know I am a healer?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He . . . he thinks that I am the  healer!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What? What nonsense is this?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I had to tell the apothecary something, Pere!\" she  whispered back, her voice almost desperate. \"The man was inordinately curious  and would not let the inquiry go! And it is not nonsense. You yourself have  trained me in the healing arts. And so to satisfy him I told him that  I--\"","brand":"Dell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304659669221,"sku":"NP9780440225911","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780440225911.jpg?v=1730758054","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-plague-talesisbn-9780440225911","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}