I thought this book was excellent. More people should be reading it.

From Amazon:
Geraldine Brooks's 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 hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The lord of the manor and his family pack up and leave. The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighboring 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, the young widow Anna Frith, is one of the few who succeeds. With Mompellion and his wife, Elinor, she tends to the dying and battles to prevent her fellow villagers from descending into drink, violence, and superstition. All is complicated by the intense, inexpressible feelings she develops for both the rector and his wife. Year of Wonders sometimes seems anachronistic as historical fiction; Anna and Mompellion occasionally appear to be modern sensibilities unaccountably transferred to 17th-century Derbyshire. However, there is no mistaking the power of Brooks's imagination or the skill with which she constructs her story of ordinary people struggling to cope with extraordinary circumstances.

Reserved for tyvmdear.

Mailed yesteday, 11/4/05.

Arrived yesterday. Thanks so much for the RABCK. I will read and then make available for others.

UPDATED Dec 29th, 2005
When finished, I will be offering this book to crimson-tide as a wish list RABCK and I would like to see this book go international.

Thank you so much for sharing this book with me. I really enjoyed reading it.
A fairly quick read and I found it to be quite suspenseful (is that even a word).
The characters seemed so real and you started to feel for them and their plight. The way the author put the story together was very interesting and vivid. I must say that I was surprised by the ending.

I will now be offering this to crimson-tide.

Arrived safely today in my post box after its long journey.
Thanks heaps tyvmdear for this RABCK. I'll keep it moving once read.

I found this a moving tale of courage and growth. It portrays very well the whole gamut of human behaviour in response to crisis, but sometimes the "good" characters were just a little too good to be true. The author writes this fictional report of a real historical happening over the period of a year in a small village in Derbyshire in an easy to read style that has just enough dialet and "old" language to make it feel authentic. The first person narrative and the descriptions of everyday life and tasks make you almost feel like you are there.

I do have some reservations about the last couple of chapters though. The sudden changes in the Rector are hard to accept, and the very ending, while positive and affirming for Anna, is somewhat contrived. However those things don't detract from the book being overall an interesting and engaging read.


I have a few ideas of where to send this next - stay tuned.

Reserved for the OZ VBB - Round Nine

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Update 12th August: Selected from the OZ VBB in Round Ten by briz-cowgirl.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to briz-cowgirl as one of her selections from the OZ VBB Round Ten.

Initially released at the Balingup Post Office, and then hopefully about five or six days later into a post box in Calamvale, Queensland.

Received in the mail from crimson-tide today, thank you!

Fascinating book. I know very little about this period of history with the plague, and it was so easy to imagine the isolation and helplessness that the villagers must have felt during their quarantine, seeing those around you seemingly dying at random. I agree with crimson-tide re the ending, it just seemed to tie things up just a bit too nicely for Anna. Overall a terrific book, I'd love to see the real town of Eyam when I finally make it over to the UK.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Saw this book on piemunga's wishlist, so it is heading out to here with another bookring. Enjoy!

received as part of a lovely birthday surprise package

fantastic read. couldn't put it down. confirms what I already thought about Geraldine Brooks