NightOwl Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 I can't remember the title or the author, but this book was set in Eyam during the Plague - I'd love to re-read it if anyone can help. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 'Year Of Wonders' by Geraldine Brooks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 And if it's not that then I highly recommend it - it was brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Don't tell me that Janet, I'm trying so hard not to buy myself more books before I've finished getting Christmas pressies, and then you come along and dangle an it was brilliant! recommendation in front of me like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Hehe - sorry! Of course, you might hate it so it's probably not worth the risk. (Did that work?! ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Sadly, not for a second. *wanders off muttering and checking purse* I'll have a further look around NightOwl, as I am now intrigued by the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightOwl Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Hey, thanks Chrissy, that's the one! I completely blanked on both title and author but the book's well worth reading. For those of you who haven't read it yet, here's a review: '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 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. All is complicated by the intense, unacknowledgeable feelings she develops for both the rector and his wife. Year of Wonderssometimes seems anachronistic as historical fiction. Anna and Mompellion can 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.--Nick Rennison' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightOwl Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Forgot to mention it's based on a true story... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 NightOwl, because of you and Janet I have just got poorer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Whoops! I hope you enjoy it now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 I read this book some years ago and adored it. I've acted in a couple of plays about the story as well, both as William Mompesson and as the Reverend Stanley (In Year of Wonders, I seem to remember Mompesson's name had been changed to Mompellion, for some reason). Nevertheless, an excellent novel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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