Most of Africa had been spared the First Wave, meaning that the Autumn burst had cruelly scorched through the continent: towns like Kimberley, Addis Ababa, and Windhoek lost over 4 percent of their populations to flu.
Perhaps in the past, rolling home after a battle, Tess's ancestors, the real d'Urbervilles, had done the same, even more cruelly, to young country girls.