The Grim Reaper

1666 AD. The protagonist, Solomon Pitts, is a young blacksmith and a former soldier, who wants to build a life with a local midwife, Humility Grace, in Penance, Massachusetts. In addition to his blacksmith duties, Solomon helps the local villagers with their ailments as he has a wide knowledge of medical plants. A tragic turn of events is set in motion, when a local chaplain, Charles Gaunt, who covets Humility and bears a grudge against the church-shunning Solomon, frames the young blacksmith as a witch – with the support of local clergymen. Sentenced to death by beheading and burned at the stake, Solomon wakes up in Hell, but finds unexpected allies among its hellish denizens. Summoned before the Lord of Darkness, Solomon may present one wish. He wishes only to see his beloved wife again. Solomon’s wish is granted, but he is obliged to fetch corpses of the dead back to Hell, while bringing three hellish plagues (the black plague, blight and dead mothers giving birth to stillborns) to his home village. Becoming known as The Grim Reaper among the villagers, a sinister figure collects the dead for a small sum in Penance, as Humility notices something familiar in the forbidding harbinger of doom. Ultimately, The Grim Reaper aka Solomon is reunited with her and exacts his bloody revenge on Chaplain Gaunt and the clergymen, who sentenced him to death.