But no one comes to save him.Īphra, already superstitious, quickly descends into complete madness upon the death of three of her four children from plague and is discovered selling bogus charms and spells against the plague for extortionate prices. Finally, the villagers hold a Barmote Court, where he is left to die or be saved by his wife, Aphra. Meanwhile, as Elinor and Anna take care of the needs of the living, Mompellion struggles to keep up with the spiritual needs of the dying.Īfter the sexton dies of heart failure from digging so many graves, Anna persuades her father, Josiah Bont, to take up the work of gravedigging, but her plan fails when he takes to robbing the estates of the dead. They support each other through their struggles, and Elinor confesses as to why a high-born woman such as herself married a humble rector and devoted her life to helping the less fortunate. Anna and Elinor develop a strong bond through their trials, the relationship becoming one of friends and equals instead of a servant and her mistress. Over the following months, Anna and the rector's wife Elinor attempt to learn the uses of the contents of the Gowdies' physick garden, and take up the roles of village midwives. Except the Bradfords, the local landed gentry, the whole village agrees. Michael Mompellion proposes that the villagers quarantine themselves to avoid spreading the "plague-seeds" beyond the village. Both Mem and Anys are murdered by villagers. The spate of deaths is blamed on a widow, Mem Gowdie and her niece, Anys Gowdie, the village's herbalists and midwives, who are accused of being witches. Viccars' employer), her two young sons, and a few other villagers fall ill with the plague and die. Over the next few weeks, Anna's neighbor (Mr. Viccars' clients come to claim their work and disregard the warning.
He begs her to burn all he brought with him to stop the spread of disease Viccars develops a high fever, and starts exhibiting symptoms of the bubonic plague. Shortly after the arrival of a box of fabrics from London, Mr. The novel opens in the spring of 1665 when a young widow Anna Frith, takes on a tailor, George Remington Viccars as a boarder.
The plague that hit Eyam and other parts of the UK in 1665-1666 was one of many recurrences that had taken place since the Black Death of the 14th century. It is based on the history of the small Derbyshire village of Eyam that, when beset by the plague in 1666, quarantines itself in order to prevent the disease from spreading further.
The novel is written in the point of view of a housemaid named Anna Frith, on what she lives through when the plague hits her village. It was chosen as both a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague is a 2001 international bestselling historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks.
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