Blurb on the back of the book:
"When an infected bolt of cloth carries the plague from London to an isolated mountain village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the plague year, 1666, as her fellow villagers make an extraordinary choice: convinced by a visionary young minister, they elect to quarantine themselves within the village boundaries to arrest the spread of the disease. But as death reaches into every household, faith frays. When the villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must confront the deaths of family; the disintegration of her community; and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive, a year of plague becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

“Year of Wonders” was inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England.

I enjoyed the exploration of how different people react differently when tragedy strikes. How some people cower with fear and give up. How some people exploit fear to their own gain. How some people manage to find inner strength they never knew existed until tragedy strikes. How fear begets violence. And how some people put on a brave mask while succumbing to weaknesses in their souls.

One of my favorite quotes from this book:
Consider the changes of day and night...the fall of leaves and their return to the trees the following spring, the infinite power in seeds...and then give me a man who sees and experiences these things for the first time, with whom we can still talk -- he is amazed and overwhelmed at these miracles. p. 70

Purchased at the Hamilton-Wenham Library's book sale for release in the Little Free Library on Belcher Street in Essex, MA.