Monday, August 18, 2008

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks (2001)

Not exactly a joyousy book, but again a well researched historical novel about a town in England in 1665-66 that had the plague and quarantined itself from the rest of the world for a year until the epidemic was through. I have heard the plague mentioned when reading about history many times, but I somehow could not imagine the devastation, even when they said half or three quarters of the population died. This made it very real, personal, as each family loses members, maybe all, and what happens to those left behind, especially children. What happens when people filling certain roles in a town die? How does everyone cope?

I really appreciate it when an author explains where the idea came from and how much is real, how much has come from the author's imagination. Brooks provides her explanations in an afterward. Brooks visited the village of Eyam, which really did suffered the plague, and has quite a few books and plays written about the event, though she said there weren't many real facts, but quite a few anecdotes. I liked her comment: "William Styron once wrote that the historical novelist works best if fed on 'short rations' by the factual record." The voice of the novel is Anna, who is mentioned in a letter as: "My maid continues in health; which was a blessing..." Amazing that Brooks could take that brief mention and weave this elaborate tale of Anna's family, her miner husband who gets killed before the plague in a mining accident, her children, her work with the minister and his wife Elinor, etc. I really liked the way Anna and Elinor learned about herbs and their healing qualities, when the local wise woman and her apprentice were no longer available. And I enjoyed looking into the life of a small English village in the 17th century.

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