She flees, and finds the newly returned Elizabeth Bradford, who confesses that her mother is in labour with a bastard child and sure to die. As Anna discovers a will to live in spite of the ordeal, she seeks to comfort Mompellion, and they are drawn together in equal desire and desperation for each other. Upon her arrival, she seeks out a Muslim doctor, having found physick and midwifery to be her vocation. 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. I did enjoy reading the novel as it's always interesting to observe. Many villagers believe the plague is the wrath of God. Year of Wonders charts one woman’s journey through a year of unspeakable pain and loss. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers t, When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. In terms of ‘Year of Wonders’, we can flesh this out more clearly – those we deem ‘heroic’ are seen as such because of their selfless devotion to the welfare of others. The male characters are negative and destructive.' The rector of the church, Michael Mompellion, convinces the villagers to quarantine themselves within the village so the plague will not spread to nearby towns. We are left only with what the author assumes would be left after such a year – a rector who no longer believes and a village that doesn’t either. Ayisha was the Bradford baby. But, I was greatly disappointed in it. The writing style was very welcoming and drew you in from the beginning and I warmed to the strength of Anna, the protagonist. I have to say that I liked this book. To make ends meet after Sam dies in a mining accident, Anna works as a maid both at the rectory and at Bradford Hall; she and Elinor Mompellion become close as the plague spreads quickly … She is completely incoherent and in a catatonic state by the time she is brought out in the morning, and the rector postpones dealing with her crimes fully until the plague is over. How long does it take to read Year of Wonders? Brief Synopsis of Year of Wonders Year of Wonders is narrated from the first person perspective of an 18-year-old woman, Anna Frith. It was chosen as both a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book. Highly recommended to historical fiction fans and everyone who enjoys a good story told well. The overall concept for the book is based on a factual story of a village under siege from the plague. Laura D. Shumar compared Year of Wonders to "Albert Camus's La Peste (1947; The Plague, 1948)." Rarely has a book so captivated and then disappointed me with such a 180 turn to what I called utter "dreckage". The epilogue was surprising and certainly not what I expected except(view spoiler)[ for Anna siring the minister's child, but was nonetheless filled with hope and a future for the deserving young woman. She has a passion for learning and develops a close friendship with the rector’s wife. This touching and sometimes grotesquely explicit novel set in 1666 England is full of heartbreaking stories depicting unbelievable cruelty, superstitions, profiteering from the dead and the utter despair left in the aftermath of pestilence, but.....there is also kindness and compassion, and one specific moment of magic involving a young child with "rose petals" that will remain with me long after I've gone on to other books! Story became so flawed and was so inconsistently paced that by the village is so remote that the... 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