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• ― Becky said on Nov 9, 2008 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

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  • A very moving story about how a small village is touched by castastrophe. I originally thought that this book would be too depressing to read, but it is so well written and ends on a happy note. I am so glad that I took the time to read it!

    

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• ― Jamie Gemuend767 said on Sep 20, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

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  • Year of Wonders

  • This is an excellent book overall - wonderfully written and quickly paced. Knowing that this fiction was based on events that actually took place makes it all the more compelling. However further research into the actual events at Eyam village show that the author used a bit too much literary licens ... Continue

    This is an excellent book overall - wonderfully written and quickly paced. Knowing that this fiction was based on events that actually took place makes it all the more compelling. However further research into the actual events at Eyam village show that the author used a bit too much literary license and re-wrote the ending of the actual life of one of the main characters. That combined with an unrealistic ending, brings the book down a bit in my eyes.

    

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• ― Readingrat said on Nov 26, 2007 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

"The novel glitters . . . A deep imaginative engagement with how people are changed by catastrophe." (The New Yorker)

"Year of Wonders is a vividly imagined and strangely consoling tale of hope in a time of despair." (O, The Oprah Magazine)

"Brooks proves a gifted storyteller as she subtly reveals how ignorance, hatred and mistrust can be as deadly as any virus. . . . Year of Wonders is itself a wonder." (People )

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NY Times Notable Book Club (123)

• plaguehistoricalfictionBlack DeathAustralian literatureadult fictionhistorical fictionBook Club ChoiceTheReadingLounge