Year of Wonders

By Geraldine Brooks

As you've probably figured out by now I'm a fan of historical fiction. With the middle ages holding quite a bit of interest for me.

Year of Wonders is based of a real town, Eyam, Derbyshire that went into self isolation for a year to try and stop the spread of the plague from their town to adjacent towns. Some of the characters in the book are real people though their actions and the story is a work of fiction. At the end of the book there is an author's note that explains which parts of the story were real and why the plot was structured the way it was.

I really enjoyed this book. Nay, I say it was fantastic. The writing really drew me into the world of the 1600's. The pain that the villagers experience is made real. The characters and their stories were well developed. I have read many reviews where people liked the book up to the last 40 or so pages. I will say that the book ended a bit quickly compared to the steady pace of the rest of the book, but that didn't take away from the story.

I read other complaints about how Anna has the views of a 21st century woman and this makes the story so horrible that they can't bear reading it. You know the dialogue is also modernized but that doesn't seem to draw any complaints. Maybe because it would be extremely difficult to understand? Also why is it that women in the 1600's are not allowed to care about their family? Why is it unrealistic that she should want to learn new skills, have ambition? With at least half of the town dead by the end of the year I'm sure many people were doing things much differently than when the year started.

My only complaint is that with such attention to detail about the characters and their lives, near the end of the book the one landed family returns to the town with the mother pregnant by a man other than her husband. Then things start to happen quickly and with no explanation to why these things have happened. Is it because they have happened outside of the town and Anna, our narrator, did not have access to this knowledge so we the reader are left to wonder also?

Oh well. I enjoyed the story and even being left with scratch your head questions at the end would say that if you are looking for a book about the Black Plague to give you a sense of what life was like during that time then pick up Year of Wonders.