About this title: 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.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Very Good. A small portion in the center is water ruffled. Photos: We now have a scanner in-shop and can provide you with a picture of this item if you do not currently see one. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 8/6/2001
ISBN-13:9780670910212ISBN:067091021X
Description: Fair. 067091021X Former Library Book in decent shape! Very readable! 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Fast Shipping! ! ! We are ECO-CONSCIOUS by using recycled packaging materials, when possible, and send order confirmations/receipts digitally via E-mail. Thank you for your consideration. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Pages are tanning. Has some general wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very Good. 0142001430 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Description: Good. 0142001430 Paperback with moderate shelf-wear, rubbing, fraying, tears, fading, chipping and bumping to the cover, edges, corners, and spine. Binding is tight and square. Inside pages are free from underlining, note taking, and/or highlighting, however, the pages have tanned with age. Book is in stock and ready to ship same or next business day. Select Expedited shipping and receive your book within 3-5 business days. Buy with confidence! Please leave feedback after your purchase. It ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2002-04-30
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Good. Good + Condition. Binding tight, pages clean. Wear and creasing to edges and corners. Creasing to front hinge. Solid reading copy. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Some edge wear, slight front corner cover crease. First page and edges yellowed. A gripping historical novel of a small English v i llage in the Plague Year of 1666... read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Good copy. Binding is tight, pages are clean. Cover is nice with minor edgewear and no creasing to spine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Spine is square, no visible creasing, some wear along edges of spine, mild shelf/edge wear. Great book. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142000786ISBN:0142000787
Description: Good. Minor shelf and corner wear; Mild spine creases and skew; Tanning and minor soiling to page edges; Mild rubbing\wear to covers and spine; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. In excellent condition, this book is not a remainder! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. Ships First Class with Delivery Confirmation to most U.S. locations for no extra charge. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142001431ISBN:0142001430
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. (A90_5/9)Book is in NEW condition. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Year of Wonders is a novel inspired by the true story of the little town of Eyam in Derbyshire, known as the Plague Village, during the years 1665 - 1666. Although the cause of how the plague showed up in their village is still unknown, the villagers' decision to quarantine themselves in order to stop the spread of the deadly disease has sealed their place in history.
Geraldine Brooks provides us with a fictional account of what life looked like from within the Plague Village and gives us insight into the human nature that accompanies tragedy.
Anna Frith is a widowed housemaid busy raising her two sons and working in the home of the town's priest and his wife, the Montpelliers. When Anna's lodger dies she suspects the plague to be the cause of his awful death and it's not long before her fears are confirmed. The spread is rampant and the fatalities of the villagers grow daily. No one is safe from the disease and every Sunday the church pews get emptier. Anna and Mrs. Montpellier team up to care for those afflicted while Mr. Montpellier works tirelessly bringing comfort to the dying.
What really fascinated me in this novel was the human factor - how the villagers dealt with the constant death of their loved ones and neighbors, the trauma of self-exile and how their faith was tried. They sought a reason why this plague had come upon them, to understand...why was God punishing them or was he testing them?
My favorite part of the novel was the friendship between Anna and Mrs. Montpellier, which has been strengthened by the tragedy is really beautiful to read and you can't help but love both of them and stand in awe of their strength.
The ending is a bit of a rollercoaster with the revealing of secrets and hidden desires realized. Brooks ties the ends up nicely and while I was a little surprised by the ending, it was a pleasant surprise and I felt a great way to say goodbye to Anna, knowing she would have the happy future she so deserved.
This poor book has been sitting on my TBR tower for ages and I could just kick myself for waiting this long to finally read it! Brooks' writing is brilliant, I can't wait to read more from her. Do yourself a favor and read this! You won't be sorry you did =)"
"Ah me, I'm afraid I had to reach for the smelling salts many times during Brooks' depiction of the plague's rampage through a small village in central England in the year 1666. The village and it's heroic decision to isolate itself to prevent the spread of the Black Death to other parts of the country is a reality. The characters spring to full-blown life from the author's imagination: preachers, servant girls, noble people who take on the roles of "heavies", Puritans, Anglicans, Ancients and children, and most vividly drawn, witches performing white and black magic.
Like THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, this novel is painstaking in its detailed research. The Plague comes to the village on a bolt of material a tailor brought from London. The tailor is a lodger with a young widow, the narrator and so, naturally, a survivor of the Year of Wonder. Wonder is a many layered choice for the title: first, it describes the miracle of living through such horrors but I suggest it describes the philosophical question, the "why" about suffering that has asked since myth making began.
It did not take great powers of deduction to guess where the story was going since Anna opens her narrative after the worst has happened, and she is attending to the Preacher, strong, silent and virtuous. However, let me state that this is no Harlequin Romance and surprises and yes, wonders, occur before the final page.
But let me get back to my queasy stomach and attacks of the vapors. Brooks did her homework too well: we read about the boils and the blood and the piteous deaths of children and old folk. It seems the middle aged often had the stamina to live through or past the epidemic. As if this were not enough, several other varieties of deaths come to life with sickening verisimiltude. Just warning, not spoiling, that you keep one of those airplane bags nearby. Childbirths are not omitted nor unique and hideous punishments meted out to those who extorted their fellow man and those innocent women herbalists who were branded as Satinist.
This is not a book for the faint of heart but it is informative and its fictions rest on actual happenings during that Fateful Year."
"Year of Wonders tells the story of Anna, a young, widowed servant living in an English village in which the Plague is rampant in 1666. The village voluntarily isolates itself completely in the hopes that others will not be infected with the terrible disease and Anna and her employers, the Rector and his wife, help the villagers through the terrible year as best they can.
It is one of the most beautifully written stories I have read. Brooks' descriptions are so vivid and contain just the right amount of detail that I was able to picture the isolated, misty, dark village and could feel the emotions the villagers experienced. The terror they felt at facing such a horrible and, to them, completely incomprehensible event was palpable to me.
I loved the characters in this book: even the awful ones like Anna's father are beautifully described. Anna is not one-dimensional as so many heroines are: She has foibles and makes mistakes and becomes depressed as well as being an increasingly strong and competent human being. But the minor characters too are well-developed and utterly believable.
This book is not, as much historical fiction can be, an excuse to demonstrate the depth of the author's research skills. It is about people: what they think, what they do, how they react and what they learn. It is a fascinating and believable depiction of what might have been in 1666 in a world that began and ended within a few miles. A world in which 300 people became 200 in the space of a year. A world in which fear was a constant emotion.
I loved the rest so much I can even forgive Brooks the ridiculous and inconsistent last chapter."
"I have to say that I liked this book. But, I was greatly disappointed in it. I came to the book knowing of the sacrifice of that village and knowing, too, that when people sacrifice in such a way they are abundantly blessed by God. Unfortunately, the latter was completely missing in this book. It is easy to be an onlooker to suffering and assume that you've seen the injustice and the loss and the pain and that there is nothing else to see. This is not only completely at odds with everything I believe to be true but also at odds with people I know who have suffered and the tales they tell of the comfort they have received. In the not too far distant history of my own people there is a sad tale of suffering and deaths of the daily "will this never end?" type. However, unlike the survivors of Eyam, we have their own words of the experience and as one survivor said, "The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay." Surely there were miracles in that village as they sacrificed for the good of their people. Surely God walked with them. Surely there were wonders. Unfortunately there was nothing of this in the book. We are left only with what the author assumes would be left after such a year - a rector who no longer believes and a village that doesn't either. You can write a lot of things from our atheistic, modern standpoint, but in the matter of a village who sacrificed for their fellow man in the name of a God in whom they all believed, you can not write and get it right. You can not write of such things and leave God out. It leaves out half of the story and the most important half at that. My guess is that those villagers were never the same, but not in the hopeless way the author assumes. My guess is that for those villagers, they never had to look to the skies and wonder anymore if God was there and if He were listening, because my guess is that for them, all doubt had been swept away. They now knew He was there because He had walked with them in their year of wonders. That was the story I wanted to hear."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
