I recently finished another Historical fiction book, Year of Wonders-A Novel of the Plague, by Geraldine Brooks. It is based on a true story of a village named Eyam, in England, that shut it self off (voluntarily) from the outside world when they were overcome by the plague. They decide to stay put and not run away from the plague, in the hopes that they could prevent it from spreading. In the Afterword of the book the author explains that she had been unable to find another example in history of a village that acted so bravely and unselfishly as Eyam, Derbyshire. The villagers stayed and nursed each other, buried each other and despite the loss of more than half of their population, managed to honor their commitment to not spread the plague.
The main character is a housemaid, named Anna, who loses everything and witnesses more death and horror than most people could ever imagine. She is transformed throughout this year and becomes someone she never knew she could be. Anna actually loses her husband to a mining accident, less than a year before the plague. She is then forced to take on a job as a maid, but is a very shy and timid women. When the townspeople start dying, she takes over the responsibility of some of their jobs, out if necessity; like the mid wife, as babies continue to be born, the healers, who are murdered by townspeople, driven to madness from all the death around them and accuse the two women of witchcraft. She even overcomes her life long fear of going into the mines, to save little girls family claim, and her only source of income to live after her entire family dies from the plague.
This book is really sad, but leaves you with hope for the future and respect for the past.
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