Year of Wonders in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 07, 2014 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, 1600s

Sort of ironic that Anna, a servant and a peasant, would have the most profound understanding of "why bad things happen to good people." Opposite ends of the spectrum grappled with this question from the Reverend Mompellion's beliefs that God was testing his people and the superstitious villagers accusing some of witchcraft and resorting to charms and spells. Anna said that Nature just was.

The story moved somewhat slowly, although my interest was always enough to keep reading. Brooks' explorati ...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, book-club, medicine, library, concierge, own, england

Fact: in 1665-1666 Eyme England quarantined itself because of an outbreak of plague. From this tidbit of history, Brooks crafts a wonderful novel.

This work of fiction follows Anna Firth, maid and midwife, and the Parson Mompellion and his wife, Elinor, as they deal with the deaths and lives of the villagers.

I felt the ending was a bit contrived - (view spoiler) Still it's a very interesting book. ...more

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Jun 16, 2008 Catsalive rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aww, 2005

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Absolutely brilliant! I loved every moment of this book. What a wonderful, strong woman Anna was and became. I say "was and became" because she must have been strong to begin with to grow into such a person. It was more than a "Novel of the Plague", it was a novel of the ability of people to grow, of compassion, and of humanity.

SPOILERS. Highlight to read.
I loved this quote whilst reading the book, and I also include the section from the Readers' Guide:

"It is up to the story's heroine - a young, Absolutely brilliant! I loved every moment of this book. What a wonderful, strong woman Anna was and became. I say "was and became" because she must have been strong to begin with to grow into such a person. It was more than a "Novel of the Plague", it was a novel of the ability of people to grow, of compassion, and of humanity.

SPOILERS. Highlight to read.
I loved this quote whilst reading the book, and I also include the section from the Readers' Guide:

"It is up to the story's heroine - a young, widowed housemaid named Anna Frith - to raise the existential question about the origins of the plague, and she therefore becomes the embodiment of the conflict at the centre of the novel: God Versus Nature.

"It came to me then that we, all of us, spent a very great deal of time pondering these questions that, in the end, we could not answer. If we balanced the time we spent contemplating God, and why He afflicted us, with more thought as to how the Plague spread and poisoned our blood, then we might come nearer to saving our lives. While these thoughts were vexing, they brought with them also a chink of light. For if we could be allowed to see the Plague as a thing in Nature merely, we did not have to trouble about some grand celestial design that had to be completed before the disease would abate. We could simply work upon it as a farmer might toil to rid his field of unwanted tare, knowing that when we found the tools and the method and the resolve, we would free ourselves, no matter if we were a village of sinners or a host of saints."

After suffering the death of her suitor and her two children and despite her own spiritual beliefs and adoration for the rector and his wife, Anna boldly rejects the idea that the pestilence is a call for repentance. And in a time of such turmoil, she shrugs off the social and religious mores that would keep a weaker woman in her place.......
..... Caught up in the struggle between science and religion, Anna's dilemma mirrors that of the world in her time. Ultimately she confesses: "I cannot say that I have faith anymore. Hope, perhaps. We have agreed that it will do for now.""

I had an inkling about the situation between the Rector and Elinor but I'm sorry that Anna & he parted as they did. I knew there must have been a point to the early reference to the Musalman so I'm quite happy that Anna found a fulfilling life there. ...more

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Dec 31, 2009 Charlotte (Buried in Books) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Absolutely beautiful - if you can call a book about the plague beautiful. Told from the point of view of young Anna Frith, a widow at 18 with 2 young children - this book tells the story of the village of Eyam in the Peak District.

Eyam is notable because during the outbreak of the plague this small village took the unthinkable decision to cut themselves off from all surrounding villages in an effort to stop the plague from spreading. They sacrificed themselves in order to save others.

Anna escape Absolutely beautiful - if you can call a book about the plague beautiful. Told from the point of view of young Anna Frith, a widow at 18 with 2 young children - this book tells the story of the village of Eyam in the Peak District.

Eyam is notable because during the outbreak of the plague this small village took the unthinkable decision to cut themselves off from all surrounding villages in an effort to stop the plague from spreading. They sacrificed themselves in order to save others.

Anna escaped an unhappy childhood to be married at 15 to a poor miner, his death in the mine 3 years later left her trying to bring up 2 young children, look after the animals they have and also act as servant to the villages rector and his wife.

It is the rector that suggests Anna as a potential landlady to a travelling tailor. Just it seems that Anna may finally be ready to have another man come into her life, that man falls deathly ill - following receipt of a bolt of cloth from London. Soon the illness spreads and the rector indentifies the illness as the plague.

This book doesn't shy away from the awful suffering of those afflicted - but it doesn't dwell on it either. It looks at the whole breakdown of the village, how superstition, greed and fear rip the village apart. How easily a witch-hunt can take place and murder is easily achieved. Overall there is a such a pall of grief over everything, which when it starts to lift feels like sunshine on your face after a long cold winter.

Anna is at the centre of all the action, as the plague outbreak begins in her home, claiming first her lodger then shortly after her own children. Her father is a terrible character, who after ruining her childhood becomes too greedy in his payment for digging graves (after the village sexton collapses and dies and the rector is exhausted by trying to take up the slack), finally overstepping the mark when he tries to bury a survivor alive. The fall-out from this action triggers Anna's stepmother to descend into madness.

But she is also responsible for wonderful acts of spirit, along with her employer Elinor. Trying to save a 9 year old orphans livelihood, by going into her family mine and risking their lives to mine enough lead to protect it for her. The friendship between Anna and Elinor is wonderfully written.

It of course asks questions about faith and belief - most especially when looking at the elderly survivors who struggle to understand why they have been spared when so many of the younger generation surcumbed. Ultimately it tells of hope - hope that despite everything you endure, you can continue to endure and learn and help others.

This is a beautiful book, wonderfully written - truely a book of wonders. ...more

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Nov 18, 2010 Chris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

Wow! This was definitely one of the best reads of the year. I had put off reading this since it came out because I wasn't crazy about a story that would obviously deal with a lot of deaths. In fact, I was wary as the story began, fearful to like the characters too much for fear of what would happen to them. And Brooks does a great job of foreshadowing! But you come to care for (or loathe, as the case may be) all the characters in the story. When plague arrives in the tiny English village in 1666 ...more

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Feb 27, 2014 Rachel N. rated it really liked it

Anna Frith is a widowed woman with two young boys who works as a maid in the rectory. Plague travels to her town and thanks to the pleading of the local pastor the village Anna lives in cuts itself off from the rest of the world so as not to spread the plague. Throughout the trials of the next year and in large part due to her friendship with the pastors wife Elinor, Anna becomes something of a healer in the community. There is a lot of sadness and death in the book but due to the strength Anna ...more

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