''Black Roses'' is a 1929 novel by the British writer

Francis Brett Young Francis Brett Young (29 June 1884 – 28 March 1954) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, composer, doctor and soldier. Life Francis Brett Young was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. He received his early education at Iona, a pri ...

.Hall p.16 Paul Ritchie an English painter is on a

cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

around the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, when the ship pulls into

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. This sparks his memories of many decades before when he had lived in the city and found friendship with a fellow artist and love with their landlady. However all three were struck down during a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic of which only Ritchie survived. Without ever setting foot back in the city, he is finally able to banish the ghosts that have haunted him all these years. During the 1920s Young spent a great deal of his time in

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

. He generally set his novels in places he knew well as seen with his East African and Mercian novels.

References

Bibliography

* Michael Hall. ''Francis Brett Young''. Seren, 1997. 1929 British novels Novels by Francis Brett Young Novels set in Italy Heinemann (publisher) books {{1920s-novel-stub