Liz M. (Ealisaid) reviewed on 12/10/2005 + 23 more book reviews

I really liked this somber (but fictional) tale of a plague-afflicted village in 1665-66. The story was inspired by the true story of the village of Eyam, Derbyshire.

Is this story as good as "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis? Well, no, I don't think it was. But it's also not as emotionally draining as "Doomsday Book", and "Doomsday" also involves time travel, while this story stays firmly in the past. It's hard not to compare the two books though, since both are about villages attemtping to cope with the plague and feature a clergyman as a character.

As much as it is a story about a village suffering from the plague, this is a story about a woman's growth and realization of her own strength. The book does have a strange and unexpected ending which surprised me and didn't leave me entirely satisfied, but given what we know about the character, I'm not sure how else Brooks could have ended this story. All in all though, I'd recommend "Year of Wonders". It definitely kept my interest.

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