Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Ok, so a book that is subtitled A Novel of the Plague is generally not my first pick for light summer reading. And, it was not even in my giant pile of to-be-read books, so that was a problem. But when my friend recommended it, I saw that it was by Geraldine Brooks. Before we started keeping track of these things, I read her third novel, People of the Book, and I was hooked. Until then, I would never have described myself as a fan of historical fiction, but Geraldine Brooks and a few other recent authors have begun to change my mind. I was excited after reading it, because I knew her second novel March is also on my giant to-be-read pile.

The novel tells the story of how an infected bolt of cloth from London infects a tiny mountain village in 1666. We see it through the eyes of Anna Frith, a servant, wife, and mother who lives in the village. The book follows the town over the course of the plague year, as they make the bold and unusual choice of voluntarily quarantining their village to prevent the spread to their neighboring towns. In this respect, I thought there were similar themes to The Pearl Diver, regarding how the people fared in their restricted culture, and the painful clashes it inspired.

The story is based on the real town of Eyam, Derbyshire, and Brooks went so far as to give some characters actual or similar names of the people who lived there. I was wrong about it not being a summer reading choice, because it has everything — romance, death, birth, politics, witch hunts, disease, murder, oh, and lots more death. Seriously, the story is about the plague, so you know it’s going to be a real train wreck, and, in the politics of survival, you will be expecting disaster. You will not be disappointed. At one point, I was thinking how even my husband, lover of dry non-fiction tomes, would love this book. And then, to my horror, it looked like Brooks was going to go for the sappy romantic ending. As I read on, I was happy to see the train go right off the rails again, and the story back on track. I admit, she surprised me, because, even though it would not have been right, a couple of carefree happy moments was nice for that poor godforsaken woman!

The remarkable thing for me was that, even in 1666, many of the people of this town were able to see good that came of this miserable plague — a Year of Wonders. In some way, each day they lived to tell about was a wonder, and it is inspiring and encouraging to think of my own life in those terms.