As we mark the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 and the lockdowns that changed our world, we can now look back with perspective on how crisis shapes human behavior—and how little has changed across centuries. Ken Tentarelli’s newest novel, The Blackest Time, set during the Black Plague in 14th-century Florence, reveals how people confronted fear, loss, and uncertainty in ways that mirror our recent experience.

Ken is available for interviews and can address topics such as:

• Parallels between the Black Plague and modern pandemics
• How an engineer with no background in history became a historical fiction author
• The ways people in 1350s Florence coped with crisis—behaviors we witnessed again during COVID

Inspired by real events, The Blackest Time doesn't simply chronicle devastation—it uncovers the resilience that emerges when everything familiar disappears. Ken's research reveals that people in 1350s Florence developed coping mechanisms we'd recognize today, from social distancing to scapegoating to acts of unexpected kindness.For more info, click here