Year of Wonders A Novel Of the Plague

The 2nd book in my series of personal book reviews is a book called Year Of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.

The story begins in a small English Village in 1666 after the plague had all but ravaged this tiny village of just over 300. Anna, a housemaid at the village parish, is trying to entice her pastor to 'eat, just a little, to gain strength', to admit visitors, to see people, anything to get him out of his depression and help him to regain his faith. Then the story backtracks to the spring of 1665, when the plague spore was first brought to the village in a shipment of cloth from London, destined for the local tailor. At first no one realizes, or wants to admit, that the sickness is the dreaded plague. First the headaches and fever, red blotches similiar to rings, then the tell-tale pus sacs in the gland areas. Finally, sneezing & death. Of course the end is ineveitable. What is amazing, is that the village decides -almost to a person- that they would voluntarily quarentine themselves to prevent the spread of the disease. Thus giving themselves a death sentence.

The book is well written and, for myself, amazingly vivid. The description of the village itself had my mind creating the like, imagining who these people were, how they lived (which I eventually looked up), and the manner in which they died.

Although books about catastophies like the plague can often be considered depressing, I could not say I found Year of Wonders to be so. The book showed the best & worst of human nature during difficult times, with the best-of winning hands down.

I was so intrigued by this book that I searched out (on the internet), the incident Year of Wonders, was based on. It happened in the English village of Eyam, a small mining community of about 350 people, located in Derbyshire. The plague spore was indeed brought to the village in a shipment of cloth from London, destined for the local tailor. A short time later, as people began to get sick, healthy villagers were thinking of leaving, hoping for the safety of neighbouring villages or the nearby city of Sheffield. The church leader, William Mompesson, convinced the villagers that to flee would quite possibly bring infection to those places, who up until this time, had been plague free. The villagers agreed to quarintine themselves and a local Earl agreed to provide food and supplies as long as no one left the village.

Of the 350 people who inhabited the village in 1665, 280 had died by the end of 1666.

Again, I am amazed at the heroism of the people of Eyam. To give so much of yourselves to protect your neighbours... I know it may sound wishy-washy, but the night I finished Year of Wonders, I prayed for the victims & said thank you.

Two things to check out: Year of Wonders A Novel of the Plague, by Geraldine Brooks,
and anything about the village of Eyam. The village has a plague museum, the house the plague first occured in is still standing, as is the Parish of St. Lawerence.