During Medieval times, the Black Death wiped out one-fifth of the world's population. Four centuries later, in 1665, the plague returned with a vengeance, cutting a long and deadly swathe through the British Isles. Though the murderous contagion eventually came to be known as the Great Plague of London, the devastation it wrought on England's smaller towns was in many ways even more terrible. In this intimate history of the extraordinary pandemic, author Evelyn Lord focuses on Cambridge, where every death was a singular blow affecting the entire community. Lord's fascinating reconstruction of life during plague times presents the personal experiences of a wide range of individuals, from historical notables Samuel Pepys and Isaac Newton to common folk who tilled the land and ran the shops. She brings this dark era to vivid life through stories of loss and survival from those who grieved, those who fled, and those who hid to await their fate.