![]() Though Henry is of a lower social class, they find solace in each other and in music. ![]() ![]() Allen comes from an upper-middle-class family, but she enjoys Henry’s company, despite the derision of many of her family members and acquaintances. She takes care of her sister, Lily, who is bed-ridden and filled with paranoia over their maid, Ada. A brave woman, also unmarried, Allen works as a schoolteacher in the city. Through his organ music, he receives an opportunity to be the pianist for a school production, where he meets Allen Thompson. During the First World War, which is rapidly coming to a close, Henry stepped in to play the organ for the local church. Generally reserved and stoic, he finds pleasure in music. Based in part on his personality and his profession, Henry is a melancholy man. Middle-aged undertaker Henry Speake, who is unmarried, manages the family business, providing for his sister, who relies on their profits. The novel is ultimately a portrayal of this moment in world history from the viewpoint of a few struggling Londoners, who watch as the death toll climbs into the tens of thousands. ![]() A romance blossoms between Allen and Henry, which is put on hold by the mounting number of bodies funeral director Henry is supposed to bury and the closure of Allen's school due to threat of illness. Undertaker Henry Speake and schoolteacher Allen Thompson’s lives are upturned as the epidemic rushes through the city. ![]() This Time of Dying (2007), a historical romance novel by Reina James, takes place in London in 1918, on the cusp of the outbreak of the Spanish flu. ![]()
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