title: The Black Death
author: Gwyneth Cravens
description: Drawing strongly on history, this intriguing story makes us fear for the future.
zlib_text: ## [Acknowledgements](contents.html#bm1r)
  
  
  Thanks to my agent Jane Conway-Gordon, Krystyna Green and all at Little,
  Brown.
  
  
  ## [Chapter One](contents.html#ch1r)
  
  
  ## Tuesday 8 July, 2014
  
  
  ## The Actress
  
  
  Forty-five minutes in this heat, thought Karlie Merrick, and she’d be basted
  like a fucking turkey. The temperature was building steadily and there was no
  air con but she still couldn’t face the motorway. Couldn’t trust herself. Not
  today. Not the way she was feeling.
  
  
  Once she was clear of Glasgow, she turned the silver Volkswagen Golf towards
  Strathaven, kept her speed on the low side, switched on the radio, heard the
  Kill Kestrels, ‘Death of an Angel’. Turned up the volume. Tried to ignore the
  anxiety that gnawed in the recess of her mind. It had begun last night after
  she’d spoken with Steve Penwell. His paranoia had been infectious as he’d
  warned her, ‘What I’ve told you is gold. You need to be careful.’ For a moment
  she’d had hope, then he’d ruined it all by seeing faces in 