Featured Book Review
'A Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague' by Geraldine Brooks © 2001 Fourth Estate, London ISBN 1-84115-458-x 310 pages inc. afterword discussing the fact amidst the fiction £7.99
I bought this book at the Eyam Museum, while visiting the village where much of the story takes place. It has a tragic history. In 1665, probably due to the receipt of cloth from London, bubonic plague (aka the Black Death) arrived in the village. Led by their rector, the villagers quarantined themselves so that the plague did not spread throughout Derbyshire, though they understood that this almost certainly signed their own death warrants. This act of self-sacrifice resulted in only 85 survivors remaining by the end of the outbreak in 1666, out of a population of approximately 350.
'A Year of Wonders' is a fictional account of what it must have been like to live in Eyam during the plague year. While not overtly Pagan - there are a couple of cunning women, a lot of herblore and an horrific scene following accusations of witchcraft, but otherwise a village full of Methodists - there is a lot to the story which gives pause to thought to anyone of with a strong faith. It was their Christian values and their faith in God which seemed to underpin the villagers' decision, both in reality and in this book, to stay within the confines of the village.
This was not an age of antibiotics nor the understanding that we have today in how to prevent, control or cure outbreaks of plague. Whether they lived or died seemed so random as to have only the whim of God at its root. As the author explores how this would have effected the faith of the villagers and their relationships with God, the issues and questions raised are ones familiar to us all. When should we take matters into our own hands and when should we trust deity? How can we be sure that deity is even watching? How can we be sure that deity exists?
It can be assumed that most people, hearing the story from the vantage point of safety, would like to believe that we too would have stayed in the village. It is a noble thing to have done. But as the narrative unfolds, the realities hit home. How could any of us have stayed as our children, parents, siblings, friends and neighbours died horrifically? Beyond faith, it raises questions about human nature. Some survivors fell to madness or the mob, some to fanaticism, while others found a cold, hard strength; both the lightness and quiet heroism, and the darkness and depths of humanity could be found there.
'Year of Wonders' is a work of fiction, though based on fact, telling the story through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Anna. It is gripping. I read it during two of my most busy days, unable to put it down. At times, I sobbed my heart out; at others I wondered what I would do, as a priestess, in the circumstances met by the rector; very occasionally, I laughed. It didn't seem overly gratuitious in its sentimentality nor horror, despite the rich source of material for both. Those who have suffered the loss of children may find some scenes too hard to bear, for everyone else, I thoroughly recommend it.
reviewer: Mab of Dream
If you would like to join in on a discussion about this book, please go to the forum here: Novel of the Plague