Year of Wonders is a historical fiction, based on the real English village of Eyam which was devastated by the bubonic plague in 1666. The story is told from the perspective of young Anna Firth who was left a widow by age 18 with 2 two small sons to care for. It is a tale that is very sad and depressing as Anna describes the sickness, death (2 out of every 3 people in the village died as a result of the plague), the desperation and madness that ensued. Despite her despair from watching her children and neighbors succumb to the "Black Death", Anna finds a way to carry on by tending to and comforting the sick and dying, assisting in births, and trying to convince the villagers to see the truth and light when fear, superstitions and violence take over their sensibilities. I found myself immersed in this story, feeling rather overwhelmed, at times, at the misery that these villagers experienced. The ending was a bit abrupt and I felt that Geraldine Brooks could have added more to the tale as she headed into the finale. All in all, it is worth a read if you can handle the sadness.

Sending this to book_drunkard as part of a book trade. I really enjoyed this story and I hope she does too.

I may go crazy trying to decide which one of the books you sent to me that I'm going to read first.
Thank you for what looks to be another great read!

This book started out as 8 stars, then dropped to 5, and after that gawd-awful ending went down to 3. Not sure if I would recommend this book as the ending completely ruined it for me.
To invest all that time and emotions into reading this and then to feel betrayed by the author at the very end just isn't right.
If you really must read this book, then stop at page 277 and repeat after me,
They Lived Happily Ever After.
The End.

Sending to my niece in Colorado.