Year of Wonders

I've no idea what it was that made me want to read this book -- perhaps I read about it on someone's blog, or in the newspaper. I put it on my Bookmooch wishlist quite recently and it arrived in the middle of last week. I wasn't sure, at first, if I was going to be in the mood for it, but I got very quickly grabbed, so completely in fact that I stayed up very late reading it, something I generally try to avoid doing these days. I think I was originally intrigued not just because it had been well reviewed but also because it is based on true events, which I already knew a little about. A little only -- but I did know that in the seventeenth century, the small village of Eyam in Derbyshire had completely cut itself off from the rest of the world when the plague starts to claim some of its inhabitants, in order not to spread the disease into the rest of the county. An astonishing fact, really, in itself, and one which the author, Geraldine Brooks, was so struck by that she based this, her first novel, on it. Using a combination of known fact, even down to the names of recorded inhabitants, and imagination, she has created a completely believable picture of what life would have been like in this self-imposed siege. In the novel, it is the rector, Michael Mompesson, who initiates the plan, with the support of his lovely, delicate wife Elinor. But the story is told by their maidservant, Anna Frith, a young widow with two small sons, and a woman of great intelligence and sensitivity. Anna herself suffers a terrible loss early on, when her two boys succumb to the disease, but she comes through and, as more and more people in the village die, she takes over various roles including midwife and and, with Elinor, herbalist. The two women study Latin texts together and, with no prior knowledge at all, attempt to find ways of alleviating the suffering of the sick, though any idea of cure is beyond their abilities. Brooks has also imagined, with what I think is chilling accuracy, the divers and usually disturbing ways in which the villagers react to this extraordinary and testing situation -- some turn to witchcraft, others to extreme forms of self-punishment -- insanity threatens many --  relationships crack and crumble -- some are overpowered by loss and grief, others become stronger. Many dramatic events unfold before everything is finally concluded and the plague has claimed its last victim. Life for the survivors will never be the same again. The ending is quite a surprise! There's a sort of false conclusion, or so it seemed to me, which looked as if it was going to tie everything up nicely, but perhaps that was a bit predictable, and things take a very different turn at the end...
So a novel full of excitement, tension, uplift and sadness. And as well as all that, the character of Anna is impressive -- a woman born into one of the most unpromising life situations imaginable, who ends by fulfilling her self in the most unexpected way. Amazing that this is a first novel.