A Novel of Florence During the Black Plague
By Ken Tentarelli
Set in the 1300s during the devastating black plague, The Blackest Time is a powerful tale of compassion, love, and the human spirit’s ability to endure immense adversity.
Gino, the central character, is a young man who leaves his family’s farm to find work in a pharmacy in Florence. His experiences show us how people coped in the most horrific time in history.
Shortly after Gino arrived in the city, two years of incessant rain destroyed crops in the countryside, leading to famine and despair in the city. Gino offers hope and help to the suffering— he secures shelter for a woman forced to leave her flooded farm, rescues a young girl orphaned by the plague, and aids others who have lost everything.
The rains had barely ended when the plague hit the city, exposing the true character of its people. While some blamed others for the devastation, the story focuses on the compassionate acts of neighbors helping each other overcome fear and suffering. Doctors bravely risk infection to care for their patients. A woman healer, wrongly accused of witchcraft and driven from the city, finds a new beginning in a village where her skills were appreciated.
Despite the hardships, love blossoms between Gino and a young woman he met at the apothecary. Together they survive, finding strength in each other and hope in a world teetering on the edge.
The Blackest Time is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in overcoming unimaginable tragedy.
Praise
“The complexities and the helplessness of the plague is captured exquisitely in The Blackest Time.”
~ The Independent Book Review
“Tentarelli’s ability to immerse readers in medieval Florence’s sights, sounds, and struggles makes this a novel worth diving into.”
~ The Literary Titan
“The historically rigorous description of the apothecary profession, including the guild that regulates it, is impressively presented by the author, whose research is impeccable.”
~ Kirkus Reviews
“This is truly an uplifting and edifying narrative of the inherent ability of mankind to rise above all the worst trials and tribulations. I enjoyed this story immensely and highly recommend it.”
~ Readers Favorite 5 star review
A cosy chat with author Ken Tentarelli
What inspired you to start writing?
During my career as an engineer, I was so engrossed in technology that I didn’t make time for the arts and history. That changed when my wife and I began traveling to Europe. One of our first trips was a tour of Italy. We found the people so welcoming and the country so comfortable that we returned every year. Each time we visited a different region. On some of those trips, we studied Italian language and culture in Rome and Perugia. It’s impossible to see places that have endured for a thousand or two thousand years old without being awed.
I imagined what life must have been like, and that led me to write my first book, a historical mystery set in Florence during the Renaissance. That book earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which encouraged me to continue writing. I now have six books in that series besides The Blackest Time.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
I can’t say any part was hard, but I will say that doing research took time away from writing. Research is something I enjoy, and it’s a good thing too, since readers demand authenticity in historical fiction. At times, I spend more time doing research than writing. I’m a stickler for getting to the root of things, and I enjoy discovering little-known bits of history that are not found on popular internet sites or in traditional history books.
We are fortunate to have the internet. It’s a great resource, and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for historians and historical fiction writers to do research in the past. I can read Italian, so I was able to use fourteenth-century documents available online during my research for The Blackest Time. One journal I found especially helpful was written by a banker in Florence, who chronicled events in Florence at the time until he finally succumbed to the plague.
But not everything can be found online. In one book, my main character had been following an ancient Roman road along a river in the Apennine Mountains, and he wanted to cross the river to enter a town on the opposite bank. Using the internet, I wasn’t able to learn whether river crossing was done on a bridge or a ferry in the fifteenth century. I emailed the town’s historical society. They were kind enough to look into their archives and replied that there was a bridge across the river in Renaissance times, so I felt satisfied when I had the book’s hero cross into town on a bridge.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
Gino, the story’s main character, has many good qualities, but he’s not without his imperfections, which makes me like him. I hope readers see Gino as a real person whom they can relate to. When he arrived in Florence, he knew he didn’t have all the skills needed to work in an apothecary shop, but he had ambition and worked to achieve his goal.
Along the way, he encountered a series of personal obstacles, yet he managed to help others as he progressed on his journey. When the famine and plague came to Florence, Gino showed his compassion for the afflicted. He helped a woman accused of witchcraft flee the city. He found shelter for a woman displaced because her farm was flooded, and he found a home for a girl orphaned by the plague.
Gino’s sister Lucia is another character I respect. As a fourteen-year-old farm girl, she arrived in Florence, where she had to adapt to city life, which was a world away from her previous existence.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
Of the many talented young actors, my pick to play Gino Liani would be Lorenzo Zurzolo. He’s an Italian actor who may not be well known to American audiences, but he has a strong on-screen presence, and he can portray a wide range of emotions. He’s had roles in Netflix comedy and drama series.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I hope readers will realize that seven centuries ago, people lived in a primitive world lacking the benefits of science and technology we enjoy today, but the people themselves weren’t primitive. Like us, they had good qualities: compassion, love, ambition, and courage. And they had undesirable qualities: jealousy and greed. They were influenced by superstitions, unfounded beliefs, and fears, as we are.
I hope readers find The Blackest Time to be an inspiring story, a testament to the strength of the human spirit in overcoming unimaginable adversity.
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| Ken in Florence |
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Thanks so much for hosting Ken Tentarelli today, with such a fabulous chat about his new novel, The Blackest Time.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club