The Great Pockes: A Novel

“ … a fresh, funny black comedy with something to say about contemporary society. Savage in its wit , and refreshingly non-PC, it deserves to find an audience for its outlandish originality alone." VARIETY

“It spreads HOW?” HENRY VII – yes, the one Shakespeare forgot! – has a problem. Several problems. His subjects are unhappy with their tax burden, the nobles are unhappy with his leadership and his claim on the throne is shaky at best.

Now he faces the biggest threat to his rule. An epidemic is sweeping England and it is spread by … sexual intercourse! The Pockes, no less. Or The Great Pockes as it is soon known.

It falls to Robert Bacon, a young barber-surgeon to trace the origin of the disease and find a cure. But he reckons without the opposition of Henry’s faction-riven, self-seeking, agenda-driven government – sound familiar? – and the hostility of the Church, and the physicians, alchemists and soothsayers which make up the English medical profession.