Year of Wonders

4.5/5 stars

I mostly enjoyed this novel about a plague struck English village in 1666 closing itself off to protect surrounding villages from the spread of the disease. The details of daily life, the background of Puritanism, and the restoration of the monarchy made the story so interesting. The different ways that people responded to the threat of the disease really resonated now that I have experienced living through a pandemic. The main character, Anna Frith, a young widow with two small boys who works as a maid for the parish clergyman and his wife, is a calm and intelligent person who thinks through all she experiences and manages to help people this way. The story is told by her character, so everything is seen through her eyes. I did suspect her of being a little anachronistic at times in her thought about how disease spreads, but I thought her loss of traditional religious faith after what she had experienced made sense and was evidence of growth in her character.

The last 30 or so pages seemed like the ending to a different book, though. I was disappointed in what seemed like a flip flop in the character of the clergyman, Michael Mompellion, and in a fantasy-adventure ending for Anna. If you've read this book, let's chat about it.

Beautifully written and wonderfully depressing with an ending that leaves one if not happy, then at least satisfied. I had to stop many times in my reading to let myself breath a bit, but I think this is one that will I carry in my heart for a long time to come.

I wanted to rate this a four because I deeply appreciated the research the author did to portray the medical and social history surrounding the plague in such detail, but oy. The “surprise” reveal, the twist, the other twist and the sudden geographic relocation at the end was a bit much. Had the soap opera stuff been eliminated in favor of an examination of faith during and after a time of great hardship, I would have liked it more.

Not as depressing as you'd expect it to be, from the premise. Well-written and oddly hopeful.

Ending felt forced, unlikely.