商品簡介
A mysterious Burning Sickness is spreading through London, and neither medicine nor faith can contain the fear it unleashes. Against the upheaval of 1900, Dr Francis "Frank" Rebelspear seeks professional standing while pursuing his love for Eva Kernshaw, a relationship constrained by wealth, class and family authority. Private ambition and romantic conflict are placed under mounting pressure as epidemic disease begins to overturn the assumptions governing ordinary life. Scientific investigation confronts prophetic warning, while the appearance of a comet deepens public dread and gives catastrophe a cosmic dimension. The novel draws plague fiction into speculative science fiction, setting medical responsibility against religious and supernatural explanations without reducing the crisis to a single cause. Public panic, official containment and religious revival expose a society struggling to interpret disaster even as its institutions and social divisions are tested. Beneath the medical emergency lies a searching examination of poverty, labour, inequality and the conduct of individuals during collective disaster. Family secrets, jealousy and revenge sharpen the personal stakes, while questions of population and social reform widen the narrative beyond survival alone. This historical epidemic novel considers not only how an urban society breaks down under mass death, but also what principles might guide its reconstruction. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.
