Welcome to London in lockdown – in 1665

This timely release of a year in the life of London’s greatest diarist comes with an introduction by bestselling author, Max Hastings.

The plague that swept through London in 1665 brought the city to a grinding halt. The bustle of business gave way to a grim air of fear as nearly a quarter of Londoners were struck down. Yet for Samuel Pepys, life went on.

In his lifetime, Pepys was a naval administrator and a friend and colleague of the powerful and learned. For nearly ten years he kept a private diary in which he recorded life in Restoration London, commenting on politics, public events and private matters. As well as recording public and historical events, Pepys paints a vivid picture of his personal life, from his socializing and amorous entanglements, to his theatre-going and his work at the Navy Board. Unequalled for its frankness, high spirits and sharp observations, the diary is both a literary masterpiece and a marvellous portrait of seventeenth-century life.

In 1665 that life was lived under an ever-present shadow of death, and Pepys offers us a glimpse into how that affected London and Londoners alike.