This post illustrates the wonderful community of readers. This book was recommended to me by Cindy in a comment to my October post on Plague: A Very Short Introduction. I don’t know Cindy except through her comments, so thank you Cindy! I thoroughly enjoyed Year of Wonders. I checked it out on CD to listen on my commute, but had to scramble to find the book because I couldn’t wait over the weekend to find out what happened. It is the first book by Geraldine Brooks that I have read, so I will be looking for more of hers in the future.
The year is 1665 and Anna Frith is a widow, less than twenty years old with two young sons. She was married to a miner who was killed by a explosion in his mine. She supports herself by working at the rectory and the local manor house as well as managing her garden, sheep and chickens. The rector recommends a lodger for her to take in and she jumps at the chance for extra cash. The young tailor who comes to stay is a wonderful man and a romance is brewing until he suddenly takes ill, develops an excruciatingly painful, apple-sized buboe on his neck, and dies with “plague tokens” all over his body. The plague spreads, and decimates the village, while some people react with kindness and some lash out in fear. Even the kind people react in ignorance, because no one knows what causes the plague and how to fight it. With disease, death, love, loyalty, betrayal, romance, sex and history, Year of Wonders is a compelling read.
Geraldine Brooks says that Year of Wonders is based on a real village in Derbyshire, England called Eyam. When this “Plague Village” was struck with plague in 1665 it shut itself off from its neighbors. No one can now say with certainty how the plague arrived and how many died, but the sacrifice recorded in the scant facts still echoes down the years. In the Afterword to the book Geraldine Brooks says she was drawn back to Eyam and its history for years; “it was this story above all others that I longed to tell.”
This book is rich in well researched historical detail and will appeal to anyone interested in history, particularly of the Middle Ages. It is also wonderful women’s fiction as Anna is an incredibly strong woman who faces unbearable loss, but grabs life and lives it to the full. She is an imaginary character, but certainly one who feels real. Because of its basis in a disease, I also recommend this emotional read to people who are interested in medical non-fiction that examines the historical impact of infectious disease like Plague: A Very Short Introduction and The Ghost Map.
Check the WRL catalog for Year of Wonders
Or place a reservation for the Gab Bag.
Thanks for the good review. I will move this up on my reading list. I have enjoyed her other books. My favorite so far is ‘People of the Book’.
With your recommendation I will move ‘People of the Book’ up on my reading list! Actually it is in a reading pile by my bed, so I hope I will get to it over the holidays.
Jan
A brilliant review of ‘Year of Wonders’ by Geraldine Book. I read it a few years ago, and I agree it is a marvellous read. I havn’t read ‘People of the Book’ though, so thanks for mentioning it.
Anne
Reblogged this on Annette J Dunlea Irish Author.
Oh this sounds…well, very good might not be the right word…but fascinating. I am going to see if we have this author up in our libraries in Winnipeg. I am always grateful to hear of new authors.
I too just finished a (non-fiction) book about a plague…the yellow fever epidemic in America in 1878, It is astounding to think that some nasty little mosquito could cause, and continues to cause, so many deaths. I was reminded of reading about the Black Plague of the Middle Ages down to the carts collecting the dead.
Here is my post on the book – The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby:
http://bellebookandcandle.blogspot.com/2012/11/yellow-fever-american-plague.html
Belle
I have read that the mosquito is the animal that kills more people than any other. We usually think of large carnivores when asked that question – bears or dogs or alligators, but mosquitoes are far more dangerous.
This book is on the pile by my bed. After reading your post, it should go further up the pile and get read!
Jan
Jan, I just saw your reply and I am not surprised about the deadliness of the mosquito. The reason I happened to have The American Plague is that I was in Memphis as part of what I call my Grand Southern Literary Tour earlier this year and visited Elmwood Cemetery. I was looking for Shelby Foote’s grave and ended up having a fascinating conversation with Jorja, the cemetery’s historian. She had a copy of the book and told me that many of the victims of the plague ended up buried in Elmwood. It is quite an historic site.
Belle, I think it is easy for us to forget how in the past death from a contagious disease was sudden, unexpected and likely. There are so many diseases we don’t die from any more like small-pox that it seems that it could never happen. An old cemetery is always a sobering, but fascinating place!
Jan
Great review! I read Year of Wonders last month as well and really enjoyed it. A few people commented on my blog that they took issue with the ending, but for me, I’m glad it didn’t take the traditional route it appeared to be doing down with Anna and the Minister. Where Anna ended was much more satisfying for me.
The ending took me by surprise, I must say that. I am not sure if I found it satisfying. It struck me as unlikely, and perhaps tacked on – not really fitting with the rest of the book.
Jan
[…] and also a moving and beautifully written family saga. I recommend it for readers of books like Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks, another moving and character-driven historical novel that is a fictionalized […]
I loved this book!
Me too! I am lucky to work in a library where I get to think about and tell people about books that I love!
Jan
[…] misfortune, but also with burgeoning hope, such as The Light Between Oceans, by M. L. Stedman or Year of Wonders, by Geraldine […]
[…] history. It is also a good choice if you like historical fiction based on women’s lives like Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, by Geraldine Brooks, or The Orchardist, by Amanda […]
This book really takes you in. I also loved the ending.
[…] fiction readers, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks, which is set in the time of the Black Death (Bubonic Plague 600 years later), […]
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