The Printer's Apprentice
London, 1665-1666
London did not sleep so much as sulk after sundown. It pulled its roofs down over its ears, it hunched its crooked shoulders, and it muttered into its gutters like an old sinner bargaining with God.
Anne Ellwood is sixteen, quick-witted, and apprenticed to her father's printing press on Pudding Lane. When plague stalks the streets and shadowy men demand her father print their lies, Anne must navigate a city of secrets, ciphers, and conspiracy.
Then comes the fire.
The Story
In the shadow of the Great Plague, a printer's shop on Pudding Lane becomes the unlikely centre of a dangerous conspiracy. Master Ellwood, Anne's father, receives visitors in the night - men with plain coats, plain hats, and threats wrapped in silk. They want him to print their words, complete with deliberate errors: Citty for city, goverment for government. Trifles, they say. But Anne knows that in a city where words can cost a man his life, no error is ever a trifle.
As the plague tightens its grip and the summer heat builds toward catastrophe, Anne discovers that the men who threaten her father are part of something far larger - a web of espionage, coded messages, and political intrigue that reaches from the coffee-houses of London to the corridors of power.
And hidden within the pages of her father's press lies a secret that someone will kill to protect.
Characters
Anne Ellwood
Sixteen years old, sharp-eyed and sharper-tongued. Anne has learned to read type backwards and forwards, to spot a crooked letter at a glance, and to keep her mouth shut when men with dangerous voices come calling. But some secrets are too heavy to carry alone.
Master Ellwood
Anne's father, a printer of conscience caught between principle and survival. He loves the press more than his own voice, because "a thing said passes; a thing printed has the decency to last."
Thomas
The printer's apprentice - tall, quiet, and watchful. Thomas keeps a steel box of small treasures and larger secrets. His hammer hand is steady, but his heart is not.
The Visitors
Men in plain coats who speak of "necessary custom" and carry threats like calling cards. They want the press to serve their purposes - and they are not accustomed to refusal.
Historical Setting
The novel unfolds against the backdrop of two of London's greatest catastrophes: the Great Plague of 1665, which killed nearly a quarter of the city's population, and the Great Fire of 1666, which began in a bakery on Pudding Lane and consumed 13,200 houses, 87 churches, and old St Paul's Cathedral.
But this is also a story about the power of the printed word in an age of censorship and sedition. The press was a weapon - and those who controlled it could shape the truth itself. Coffee-houses buzzed with rumour and rebellion; the quays of the Thames groaned with wealth and thievery; and in the lanes of the old city, ordinary people struggled to survive in extraordinary times.
Themes
Author's Inspiration
The Printer's Apprentice grew from a long fascination with London's plague year - the way ordinary life continued in the shadow of death, the strange resilience of a city that refused to stop trading, gossiping, and printing even as the bills of mortality climbed.
I was drawn to the world of seventeenth-century printing: the smell of ink and oil, the clatter of the press, the dangerous magic of setting words in type. In an age before mass media, a single pamphlet could spark a riot or bring down a government. Printers were craftsmen, but they were also gatekeepers of truth - and targets for those who wished to control it.
The ciphers in the book are real. Readers who look carefully will find hidden messages waiting to be decoded. Some secrets, after all, are meant to be discovered.
Reader Reviews
★★★★★"Buy it, solve the cipher, win a prize???"
"I love history and historical fiction and this book ticks all the boxes. The essays interwoven between and inside the chapters give great insight into the people, places, events and diseases of the period.
There is an interesting line on the back page that says Curious readers may find that titles carry more than one duty. I noticed the contents page had a cipher embedded into it that I was able to solve after reading the prologue. I don't want to give too much away but it invites you to send an email to an address and you receive further instructions..."
— Matt, Amazon Review
★★★★★"Page turner!!!"
"It's historical fiction at its finest: meticulously researched, lyrically written, and deeply human. Wedow's prose is nothing short of exquisite. He captures the rhythms and textures of 17th-century London with remarkable authenticity—its fetid alleys, bustling coffee-houses, and the rhythmic clatter of the printing press.
Ultimately, The Printer's Apprentice is more than a historical novel—it's a love letter to truth, craft, and endurance. It reminds us that while gold melts and cities burn, words remain—bearing witness, shaping memory, and kindling hope."
— Amazon Customer
Hidden Ciphers
This book contains hidden ciphers for readers to decode. Look carefully at the text - the clues are waiting. Those who solve them may win prizes.
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