Cherry & Violet: A Tale of the Great Plague

In Short

Narrated by Cherry, the modest daughter of a London Bridge barber-surgeon, Cherry & Violet chronicles a family's endurance through the mid-seventeenth century. As England shifts from the execution of Strafford through Cromwell's Commonwealth to the Restoration, Cherry matures amid personal heartbreak, the sudden loss of her parents, and the horror of the Great Plague. When her home city is devastated by infection and later consumed by the Great Fire, Cherry finds solace, purpose, and a new life through her steadfast devotion to her faith, her community, and the compassionate clergyman she serves.

The Story

The narrative opens on London Bridge during the turbulent 1640s. Cherry grows up in her father's barber shop, observing the political friction of the era, from the trial of the Earl of Strafford to the rowdy antics of local apprentices like her cousin, Mark Blenkinsop. Her father maintains a resolute, moderate stance, refusing to yield to political extremism despite royalist humor and Puritan scolding.

As Cherry grows into womanhood, she quietly harbors deep affection for Mark, hoping he will eventually join her father's business and marry her. These hopes are shattered when Mark recklessly marries Mistress Glossop instead, plunging Cherry into silent grief. Shortly after, Cherry’s invalid mother passes away, gently comforted in her last hours by Master Blower, an earnest Anglican minister who lodges with the family. Mark returns briefly to seek forgiveness, an act of repentance that brings quiet reconciliation.

The Restoration of King Charles II brings a surge of celebration and commercial prosperity to the bridge, though Cherry worries over the declining moral restraint and vanity of the era. Soon, a far darker shadow falls over London: the Great Plague of 1665. As panic spreads, citizens flee, and the city shuts down under strict quarantines. In the chaos, Cherry's father mysteriously vanishes during a errand into the city. Left entirely alone, Cherry contracts a mild form of the illness but recovers, driven by an overriding determination to find her father or learn his fate.

Searching for news, she journeys to Whitechapel to seek out Master Blower, who has remained in his parish to tend fearlessly to the dying. She finds the minister himself stricken with the plague. Cherry immediately moves into the gloomy parsonage to nurse him back to health. During his recovery, he gently helps her process the realization that her father has died in the countryside after being mistaken for a vagrant and turned away by frightened villagers.

Once Master Blower fully recovers, he invites Cherry to visit his brother's peaceful estate, Bucklands Hall in Berkshire. In the quiet beauty of the country garden, their deep mutual respect matures into affection. They are married and return briefly to London, where Cherry aids her husband through the devastation of the Great Fire of 1666, opening their house to ruined refugees. Ultimately, they settle permanently in Berkshire, where Cherry lives out her days as a beloved partner in her husband's ministry.

How It Unfolds

Trouble on the bridge Young Cherry witnesses the political unrest of the 1640s from her family's shop on London Bridge as her father maintains a courageous, moderate stance despite neighborhood squabbles and apprentice riots.

Heartbreak and loss Cherry’s quiet expectations of marrying her cousin Mark are destroyed when he unexpectedly marries another woman, a grief compounded soon after by the gentle death of her invalid mother.

The King returns The Restoration of Charles II fills the streets with bright pageantry and booming trade, though Cherry views the accompanying collapse of decorum with a skeptical, modest eye.

The pestilence closes in The Great Plague breaks out across London, causing mass panics, deserted streets, and the sudden disappearance of Cherry's father when he wanders into the infected city.

Nursing the minister Cherry tracks down her former lodger, Master Blower, in his grass-grown Whitechapel parish, finding him near death from the plague and devoting herself completely to nursing him back to health.

Escape to Berkshire Following his recovery, Master Blower brings Cherry to his family's rural home at Bucklands Hall, where amidst the quiet gardens she learns the truth of her father's lonely death.

A new calling Master Blower and Cherry are wed, returning temporarily to aid survivors during the Great Fire before retiring permanently to a peaceful, fulfilling life in the Berkshire countryside.

The People

• Cherry, the narrative voice of the novel, is a dutiful, observant young woman. She desires a quiet, stable life defined by family and faith, but she must overcome heartbreak, sudden orphanhood, and the terror of the plague before finding lasting joy as Master Blower's wife.
• Cherry’s Father, a small-statured barber-surgeon on London Bridge, possesses a firm, fearless moral center. He wants only to keep his family safe and minded in their own affairs amidst civil strife, a devotion that ultimately leads to his tragic disappearance during the epidemic.
• Mark Blenkinsop, Cherry's hot-headed cousin and apprentice, constantly seeks excitement and quick success. His reckless marriage alienates his family, but his eventual repentance reconciles him with Cherry and her father.
• Master Blower, a pious, warm-hearted Anglican clergyman, desires above all else to serve his parishioners and live faithfully. Stiff and scholarly at first, his vulnerability during his severe illness reveals his deep warmth, leading him to cherish Cherry as his essential companion and wife.

In Its Own Voice

"My Father replied, 'Never trouble your Head with that. Leave the Powers that be to settle their own Affairs. Fine Times, indeed, when Barbers’ ’Prentices must be meddling in State-politics!'"

Cherry recalls her father's steadfast refusal to join the political hysteria sweeping London during Lord Strafford's trial.

"I opened my Bible at random, in Hope of Something to hearten and comfort.—The Words I lighted on were, 'I sought him, but could not find him; I called him, but he gave no Answer.' And the Page was wet with my Tears."

Terrified and completely alone, Cherry grieves the night her father fails to return home as the plague takes hold of the city.

"When we had got out of Everybody’s Sight, my Husband said, 'How are you getting on, Mistress Blower?' I said, 'I am smiling so that I am quite glad there’s Nobody to see me.'"

Riding pillion away from the church, Cherry expresses her quiet happiness following her wedding to Master Blower.

What It's Really About

Cherry & Violet explores how ordinary, humble people preserve their integrity and humanity through national catastrophes. Beneath its romantic plot lies a contemplation of providence, endurance, and quiet duty. Manning contrasts the volatile, loud political posturing of the era with the steady, quiet virtue of Cherry’s father and Master Blower. The novel argues that true Christian faith is not found in factional zealotry or public display, but in self-sacrificing service to the sick, patient endurance of unmerited suffering, and the maintenance of an inner peace that survives even the total collapse of civic order.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate detailed historical atmosphere—specifically the sensory textures of seventeenth-century domestic life, London Bridge, and rural Berkshire—will find Cherry & Violet a rewarding, comforting read. Manning writes with a gentle, antique cadence that mimics early modern domestic memoirs without feeling excessively dense or unreadable.

The novel does require some patience. The narrative pacing reflects nineteenth-century sensibilities, moving deliberately through domestic routines before reaching the dramatic tension of the plague years. Modern readers must also navigate period-specific religious attitudes and traditional gender expectations. Yet what stays with the reader is the vivid, un-hyped portrayal of human resilience. The depiction of London under quarantine—with its locked doors, quieted streets, and desperate escapes into the countryside—carries a striking, timeless resonance that makes Cherry’s journey toward quiet peace deeply satisfying.