During the plague that decimated the population of England during the 17th century, the vicar of an isolated village tries desperately to save the townspeople from death. Narrated by his courageous young housemaid, whose own family members have become victims, YEAR OF WONDERS is a story of the heroism that can arise in extreme situations--and it's also a love story. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.
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Part of my fascination with this book is due to the fact that I had seen a special on the English village that isolated itself during the plague. The scientific investigation of why some people survived the plague dealt with an abnormality in the genes of the survivors and of their present day descendants.
The characters of Year of Wonders are memorable and well-developed, and the story line is gripping. The historical perspective added much to the narrative.
I do tend to disagree with some comments about the book. What was so heroic or unusual about the village choosing isolation in the 1600's? Where were these people going to go--to a Holiday Inn in the Bahamas? The minister's motivation for convincing people to stay may have been agenda laden, but his arguments were logical. These comments would not have been unusual in that time period. Once people had been exposed, there was no escape for them that would not have led to an even greater disaster. Given much the same situation in the WWI years, regarding the Spanish Flu, people tended to stay where they were, often in isolated circumstances, and they did not have anyone dropping off supplies. I do not see the villager's choice as anything but a response to an overwhelming situation that offered almost nothing in the way of alternatives.
The trio of main characters, each one a damaged human being, dominated the book. I think that the heroine's ultimate rejection of the minister was a bit abrupt, but It fell in line with her increasing devotion to feminine power. The villagers' desperation to find someone to blame seems to be an accurate description of many people in life and death situations in all periods of time.
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5 out of 5
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