This month’s #frydayfavourite is Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
From the synopsis: 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.”
This book has been a favourite of mine for many years and was when I fell in love with historical fiction. I live not far from Eyam, the setting for this book, and have been fascinated with the place and the time when the Plague wiped out most of this small, Derbyshire village ever since a school visit there when I was about 9 years old.
Is there a particular time or place in history that you’re fascinated with? Comment below.