Year of Wonders describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. As villagers begin, one by one, to die, the rest face a choice. Do they flee their village in the hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The lord of the manor and his family pack and leave. The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighbouring towns and villages and prevent the contagion from spreading. His oratory wins the day and the village turns in on itself. Cocooned from the outside world and ravaged by the disease, its inhabitants struggle to retain their humanity in the face of the disaster. The narrator, a young widow called Anna Frith, is one of the few who succeeds. Together with Mompellion and his wife Elinor, she tends the dying and battles to prevent her fellow villagers from descending into drink, violence and superstition.

I read a copy of this book several years ago and loved it. When I came across a copy in a local charity shop I snapped it up as I think my mum will enjoy it.

Particularly wanted to read this book as I live near to Eyam the plague village. However after reading the book, fiction and reality have become mixed. The similarity of names also adds to the confusion.
Not sure what I thought to the ending. Would a girl in this age be able to travel as she did to an unknown destination, alone and in a man's world. Would she have been accepted into another culture not knowing the language and where men again dominated.
Despite the unusual twist to the story and the use of names, this book is an excellent read (I actually read it twice.)

I found that I couldn't really remember much of this book as I re-read it, just enough that it felt vaguely familiar. What I did notice, was that I was struck by different things this time around, for example, the number of violent (non-Plague) deaths. Mompellion's bizarre and controlling character shocked me a lot more. And the ending didn't seem as far-fetched after reading The Constant Princess.

I'm going to label this PC as I'd like to re-read again some time (and I bet poppysnozcat would too!)