Category: book reviews

Published August 30th, 2001 by Viking
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Historical Romance

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

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.

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MY REVIEW:

“This plague will make heroes of us all, whether we will or no.”

I first read Year of Wonders about twenty years ago and it has stayed with me. It instantly became one of my all-time favourite books and I have recommended it to other readers many times over the years. So when the Historical Fiction Book Club picked it as their July read, I was excited to revisit this story. But would I love it as much this time around?

Spring, 1966. A bolt of infected fabric carries the plague from London to the quiet Derbyshire village of Eyam. As the plague starts to spread among them, the villagers isolate themselves to avoid spreading the infection further. A fateful decision that will see most of their small village wiped out by the disease. Year of Wonders tells the story of that fateful quarantine through the eyes of Anna, a young widowed mother, as she tries to save herself and her family. But, as the sickness skulks from household to household and the death tally rises and her community crumbles around her, Anna must confront loss, suspicion, and the temptation of an illicit attraction. 

“The plague had come upon us like a thief in the night, stealing our breath, our strength, our loves and lives.”

I’ve been fascinated with the history of Eyam ever since studying it and taking a trip there in primary school. I was fascinated by the idea that these people willingly quarantined themselves knowing it was a death sentence in order to save others. Living close to Eyam helped it feel more personal, too. So as soon as I saw the synopsis for this book I knew I had to read it. And going into this second time around it held the heavy expectations of being one of my favourite books. Did it live up to them? It certainly did! Atmospheric, haunting and alluring, it was every bit as mesmerising the second time around and I was lost for words when it was over.

“I fear the line between myself and madness is as fine these days as a cobweb, and I have seen what it means when a soul crosses over into that dim and wretched place.”

A few years ago, a Collins Modern Classic version of the book was released, and it certainly deserves that status. Exquisitely written, meticulously researched, and evocatively told, Geraldine Brooks transported me back to 17th Century Derbyshire threading gossamer layers of storylines together with a chorus of detailed characters to immerse me in the lives of these villagers. Their fierce resolve is palpable and I am in awe at their bravery and sacrifice. There is something so potent and intimately tragic about the characters going about their everyday lives or worrying about whether a love affair is appropriate juxtaposed with the extraordinary circumstances of a village quickly being wiped out by a deadly plague. A sense of creeping dread and unfolding horror that lingers on these pages and it’s a powerful and emotional read, filled with awful anticipation as we know their terrible fate but desperately hope that a different ending might await them. 

Harrowing, dark, disquieting, affecting and deeply human, Year of Wonders is an absolute masterpiece. Add this to your TBR now. And if you’ve already read it, then read it again because it is every bit as enthralling when re-read. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, attending Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a feature writer with a special interest in environmental issues.

In 1982 she won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master’s program at Columbia University in New York City. Later she worked forThe Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. In 1990, with her husband Tony Horwitz, she won the Overseas Press Club Award for best coverage of the Gulf War. The following year they received a citation for excellence for their series, “War and Peace.”  In 2006 she was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University. She returned to Harvard as a Visiting Lecturer in 2021.

She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March. Her novels People of the Book, Caleb’s Crossing and The Secret Chord all were New York Times Bestsellers. Her first novel, Year of Wonders is an an international bestseller, translated into more than 25 languages and currently optioned for a limited series by Olivia Coleman’s production company. She is also the author of the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire, Foreign Correspondence and The Idea of Home.

Brooks married fellow journalist and author Tony Horwitz in Tourette-sur-Loup France in 1984 and were together until his sudden death in 2019.  They have two sons, Nathaniel and Bizu, She now lives with a dog named Bear and a mare named Valentine by an old mill pond on Martha’s Vineyard and spends as much time as she can in Australia.  In 2016, she was named an Officer in the Order of Australia.

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx