Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague

by Geraldine Brooks

308 pages

Wow! This book really makes you appreciate the times we live in and marvel at the gutsy resolve people have in order to survive hardships. The setting is a small village in England in the 17th century. The plague strikes and begins killing the villagers one by one. At the urging of their pastor, the town decides to quarantine itself in order to protect surrounding villages. Everyone stays to endure the trials except the Lord and his family who abandon the village. Surrounding villages leave food and supplies at a safe place for those quarantined, but there is no other contact with the world outside. Coccooned from the outside world, Anna Frith, a young widow, strives to help the sick by going from house to house, even as she loses those most precious to her. Her friend, the pastor's wife, helps her, and they become fast friends, but Anna cannot guess the secret of her friend's past. Each story seems more tragic than the last. A twist at the end really surprised me, and I love it when an author can do that!!

While this is fiction, there was a town in England that did isolate itself during the plague in order to control the spread of the disease. Author Geraldine Brooks (March, People of the Book) thoroughly researched the details that helped transport this reader to the era, locale, and conditions that helped me understand the dilemma, the struggle, and the tragedies the villagers endured. It really made me question (again!) whether I/we have the fortitude to endure the hardships our ancestors faced and to survive with our humanity intact.