Burning Road

by Ann Benson

Hardcover, 2000

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

Dell (2000), Mass Market Paperback, 706 pages

Description

From the bestselling author of The Plague Tales comes a spellbinding new novel that sweeps from medieval France to America in the year 2007--interweaving two gripping stories and two extraordinary eras.... In 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. Seven 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....… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member McGrewc

Sequel to Plague Tales. To keep up you really need to read the first but both are well worth reading.

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LibraryThing member akamarian

The Burning Road is a gripping novel set against the background of two plagues, the Black Death of the 1350s and a present day plague called DR SAM. Benson’s characterizations are detailed and realistic, and the settings are so well crafted you feel you are there. Older teen readers will be drawn

in by the riveting action in both time periods. A weakness, however, may be the complex sentence structure Benson uses, which can make her meaning confusing at times. This novel is an excellent vehicle for older teenagers to see, smell, and feel the way people lived during the era of the Black Death. And the modern day story helps them understand the implications a similar outbreak would have for them.

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LibraryThing member kylenapoli

Shelf Talk (Seattle Public Library) recommended this as a good match for Possession, but it makes an even better match for People of the Book. It is less intellectually-oriented than either of those, however, and much more a suspense novel. The narratives alternate apace and will keep you turning

pages, but the present (actually, near future) world and characters are far more compelling than the historical ones against which they are balanced.

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LibraryThing member sorchasfire

A well done novel bridging the effects of a plague on both Medieval Europe and the modern day western world. The story is tied together through a book which had been owned by the Medieval doctor and is now in the possession of the modern doctor.

LibraryThing member Mrs_McGreevy

The sequel to my much-loved Plague Tales continues the future/past storylines and brings back the compelling characters. In the future, Janie deals with a possible scientific conspiracy, while in the past, Alejandro and his daughter are caught up in the Jacobite rebellion. War, plague,

conspiracy...gotta love it!

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