Product Description

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'March' and 'People of the Book'. A young woman's struggle to save her family and her soul during the extraordinary year of 1666, when plague suddenly struck a small Derbyshire village. In 1666, plague swept through London, driving the King and his court to Oxford, and Samuel Pepys to Greenwich, in an attempt to escape contagion. The north of England remained untouched until, in a small community of leadminers and hill farmers, a bolt of cloth arrived from the capital. The tailor who cut the cloth had no way of knowing that the damp fabric carried with it bubonic infection. So begins the Year of Wonders, in which a Pennine village of 350 souls confronts a scourge beyond remedy or understanding. Desperate, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and murderous witch-hunting. Then, led by a young and charismatic preacher, they elect to isolate themselves in a fatal quarantine. The story is told through the eyes of Anna Frith who, at only 18, must contend with the death of her family, the disintegration of her society, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit attraction.Geraldine Brooks's novel explores love and learning, fear and fanaticism, and the struggle of 17th century science and religion to deal with a seemingly diabolical pestilence. 'Year of Wonders' is also an eloquent memorial to the real-life Derbyshire villagers who chose to suffer alone during England's last great plague.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6321 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. As villagers begin, one by one, to die, the rest face a choice. Do they flee their village in the hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The lord of the manor and his family pack and leave. The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighbouring towns and villages and prevent the contagion from spreading. His oratory wins the day and the village turns in on itself. Cocooned from the outside world and ravaged by the disease, its inhabitants struggle to retain their humanity in the face of the disaster. The narrator, a young widow called Anna Frith, is one of the few who succeeds. Together with Mompellion and his wife Elinor, she tends the dying and battles to prevent her fellow villagers from descending into drink, violence and superstition. All is complicated by the intense, unacknowledgeable feelings she develops for both the rector and his wife. Year of Wonderssometimes seems anachronistic as historical fiction. Anna and Mompellion can occasionally appear to be modern sensibilities unaccountably transferred to 17th-century Derbyshire. However there is no mistaking the power of Brooks's imagination or the skill with which she constructs her story of ordinary people struggling to cope with extraordinary circumstances.--Nick Rennison

Review
'One of the best novels I've ever clapped eyes on' Jenni Murray, Woman's Hour 'Geraldine Brooks's impressive novel goes well beyond chronicling the devastation of a plague-ridden village. It leaves us with the memory of vivid characters struggling in timeless human ways with the hardships confronting them -- and the memory, too, of an elegant and engaging story.' Arthur Golden, author of 'Memoirs of a Geisha' 'Geraldine Brooks's 'Year of Wonders' is a wonder indeed. The novel gives the reader a remarkable glimpse into a 17th century horror, but does so with both compassion and exuberance. Read it for the inventiveness of the language alone -- a genuine treat.' Anita Shreve, author of 'The Pilot's Wife' and 'The Last TIme They Met' 'More than a mountain of corpses, more than a sensual evocation of the Sapphic bond between two women, more than a pulse-quickening tale, 'Year of Wonders' is a staggering fictional debut.' Guardian "Year of Wonders' carries absolute conviction as an evocation of place and mood. It has a vivid imaginative truth, and is beautifully written.' Hilary Mantel

This is a haunting book that comes back to loiter in the mind, as do the questions 'What would I have done? Would I have been so brave?'. Based on the true happenings in the Derbyshire village of Eyam, which in 1666 deliberately closed its boundaries to the rest of the country in the hope of containing the plague within the community, the story is told by Anna, whose husband died in a mine accident, and whose two children succumb to the plague. With neighbours dying all around her Anna becomes a helpmate to the Vicar, Mr Mompellion, the originator of the 'wide green prison' idea, and his fragile wife, Elinor. The two women try to fortify the villagers with herbal potions and give help to those suffering. Suspicion, enmity and accusations of witchcraft are rife as the village folk thrash against their fate in their closed and doomed world. The horrors of tending to the dying and sharing the enormous burden of grief make Anna and Elinor's relationship than normal friendship. But there is more loss for Anna, and when the disease passes over, the village has changed and she has to deal with a new and immediate danger which means she can never feel safe in her home country again. Beautifully written with a real sense for the rhythms of 17th-century speech, the novel evokes great empathy for the characters, and an atmostphere of haunting mystery. Despite all the horrors that occur, the courage displayed by many in the village and the sense of life beginning anew at the end of the book make the title a truly appropriate one. (Kirkus UK)

Daily Mail, July 20th 2001
'A very well written, atmospheric account of what-might-have-happened...gripping.'

Customer Reviews

Heartbreaking stuff, and an interesting ending
I am becoming quite a fan of Ms Brooks - After reading "People of the Book" and reviewing it here, I was tempted into reading Ms Brooks' "March" - her superb story based on the father from Louisa M Alcott's "Little Women", which again I thorough enjoyed. This lead me to "Year of Wonders" which I must admit did seem to be a harrowing topic for a story, being as it is set in the true to life village in Derbyshire which sealed its borders (and its fate) in 1666. The research for this story, as with the others I have read, is thorough and must have taken ages as there is no common ground with any of them. The only similarity is that each story is voiced by someone with a unique perspective, in "Year of Wonders" case, by a maidservant to the local vicar, who is herself immune to the Plague, although not untouched by it. The character was all too believable, and I found myself in floods of tears at several points in this book.

Other reviewers have complained about the bizzare ending, but I rather like being led down the garden path by authors and to have my preconceptions of story endings challenged. There were a few twists and turns I was not expecting, I will admit - not at all the ending I had imagined - but very satisfying nevertheless. I will certainly be watching out for other titles by Geraldine Brooks in the future.

Wonderful and tragic
A marvellous book, describing the sufferings of this plague-ravaged village, based on the experience of the real village of Eyam in Derbyshire in cutting itself off from the outside world to avoid the spread of the disease (though I understand that in Eyam, one third of the population died, whereas two thirds die in this novel). Most of the characters are quite interesting, though perhaps some did come across as a little stereotyped. The differing ways in which they cope with the disaster around them provoke interesting reflections on the human condition. I found the subsequent life of the central character a bit implausible, though it is true that history can throw up life stories that would make the most imaginative novelist blush. A great novel.

What a book!
I will be brutally honest and say that my first thoughts as I began reading this book, was shear horror! I just thought, that with so much rubbish going on in the world, why would you want to read something so morbid and depressing. Lets face it, no light at all!!!
Geraldine Brooks is incredibly expressive and leaves nothing to the imagination. Her descriptions are wonderful and you can imagine exactly how things must have been. You really feel like you are living through the plague with the characters. Because it was a bookclub book, I pressed on and I have to admit, could not put it down. I am so glad I did, because it turned out to be a fabulous read - Although not for the feint hearted! Am am really missing it now that it is finished!
Would now love a visit to the village of Eyam!