FORGED IN THE FIRE

Three years have passed since Will and Susanna pledged their troth in No Shame, No Fear (2004), and now, at last, they make plans to marry. Before Will can leave London to join Susanna, however, he’s thrown in jail for protesting the imprisonment of his fellow Quakers. Soon London authorities cease their religious persecution in the teeth of a far graver danger: the plague. Will survives, but the family who employed him dies—and then the city catches fire. A worthy sequel, this seamlessly blends Will and Susanna’s story into a vivid historical framework—the booksellers of London work frantically to house their wares in stone church crypts to keep them from burning, but it’s all in vain. Most believable, and affecting, is the way Susanna gradually leads Will to reconciliation with his stern Protestant father. Lovely. (Historical fiction. 12-16)