Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
1 journaler for this copy...
This is an advanced reader copy.
Received from Newcastle, Wyoming through PaperBackSwap.com
In 1665, the intense young pastor of a plague-stricken Derbyshire village persuades his parish to quarantine itself from the outside world. This selfless decision leads to the deaths of two-thirds of the inhabitants but saves the surrounding towns, as it did in the case of the historical village that inspired the tale. The novel glitters with careful research into such arcana as seventeenth-century lead-mining, sheep-farming, and, of course, medicine, but its true strength is a deep imaginative engagement with how people are changed by catastrophe. Fear and despair fan the usual petty rivalries of village life into murderous hatreds, and the community fragments just when it should be pulling together. A rare few—including the narrator, a young widow who is a servant of the pastor—discover new strengths and abilities. When the epidemic is over, a year later, the survivors are too weary, damaged, and numb to rejoice.
Received from Newcastle, Wyoming through PaperBackSwap.com
In 1665, the intense young pastor of a plague-stricken Derbyshire village persuades his parish to quarantine itself from the outside world. This selfless decision leads to the deaths of two-thirds of the inhabitants but saves the surrounding towns, as it did in the case of the historical village that inspired the tale. The novel glitters with careful research into such arcana as seventeenth-century lead-mining, sheep-farming, and, of course, medicine, but its true strength is a deep imaginative engagement with how people are changed by catastrophe. Fear and despair fan the usual petty rivalries of village life into murderous hatreds, and the community fragments just when it should be pulling together. A rare few—including the narrator, a young widow who is a servant of the pastor—discover new strengths and abilities. When the epidemic is over, a year later, the survivors are too weary, damaged, and numb to rejoice.
This book is written very well; it is a treat to read the prose. It is, however, a joke to call this an historical novel. This story is 21st century mores, assumptions, prejudices and attitudes covered with only thinnest veneer of the 17th century. The author obviously researched in great detail the housing, the clothing, and the other physical effects of the time seemingly without even trying understand the inner life of the people. I had hoped for a better attempt to draw these characters from history and was sorely disappointed. Aside from that severe letdown, the book is a good read. Think of it as a modern soap opera and don't believe that you are getting any real historical insight.
Journal Entry 3 by dede4jmj at Baptist East - Endo waiting room in Montgomery, Alabama USA on Sunday, September 14, 2008
Released 15 yrs ago (9/14/2008 UTC) at Baptist East - Endo waiting room in Montgomery, Alabama USA
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In one of the inner courtyards
In one of the inner courtyards