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Editorial Review:
When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal ), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.The New Yorker )Year of Wonders is a vividly imagined and strangely consoling tale of hope in a time of despair." (O, The Oprah Magazine )Year of Wonders is itself a wonder." (People )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 hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The lord of the manor and his family pack up and leave. The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighboring 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, the young widow Anna Frith, is one of the few who succeeds. With Mompellion and his wife, Elinor, she tends to the dying and battles to prevent her fellow villagers from descending into drink, violence, and superstition. All is complicated by the intense, inexpressible feelings she develops for both the rector and his wife. Year of Wonders sometimes seems anachronistic as historical fiction; Anna and Mompellion 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, Amazon.co.uk
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Great read!:
This is wonderful read, both from the perspective of the insights into the way of life at the time in question, and from the perspective of the development of the personalities and motivations of the charachters. I am a fan of non-fictional histories, so this was a bit off the track for me, but it was a wonderful diversion. Having recently read The Great Mortality by John Kelly, I found the intimate details of life in these times even more fascinating.
Book missing pages:
Emailed book vendor BUT NEVER RECEIVED A RESPONSE. Pages 1-34 were missing from Years of Wonder and vendor didn't even offer refund, replacement OR copies of missing pages. I'll order elsewhere in the future. I'm Loving This Author:
After reading March, I had to immediately read this novel by the same author. It's the story about the plague hitting a small village in England and how the people in the small town change as a result of it. I've been fascinated with historical fictions about plagues since reading Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. I still think I enjoyed Doomsday Book a bit more, but they are, after all, two entirely different stories.more info Unexpectedly, A Great Read:
A story about the plague that is set in England in the 1600's isn't one that I would have likely read had it not been chosen by my book club. However, I'm glad that I read it, and highly recommend it to others. Even if you're someone who doesn't generally read books set in a different time period, don't shy away from this one. It may take a few pages to adjust to the language, but the story is compelling and moves quickly. Dire circumstances bring out the best in some people and the worst in others, and... more info Similar Products:
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