It’s 1348, and plague has broken out in Florence. Ten affluent people decide to escape the city for a bit, and over the course of two weeks they travel from one villa to another, trying to have a nice time of it. Amongst the singing, dancing, and feasting, every day includes a round of story-telling. Ten storytellers, ten days of storytelling: The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio is a collection of one hundred stories told by people trying to get their minds off the disruption of disease.

Chris and Suzanne look at the frame tale and five of their favourite stories, picking out some of the more interesting features of the book, enjoying how funny or sexy or strange the stories can be, and considering the work stories might do in a pandemic.