The plague raged in the village for 14 months and killed at least 260 villagers with only 83 villagers surviving out of a population of 350. By the end of the plague Eyam had suffered greatly for the bravery.
When a travelling tailor called George Viccars unwittingly bought plague to Eyam via flea-infested cloth, the townspeople and their vicar, Reverend William Mompesson, made the decision to quarantine the village to stop the infection from spreading to the rest of Derbyshire. When the black plague swept across England in 1666 this little village did something that is still heralded to this day as a great feat of courage and sacrifice. It tells the story of an English village in Derbyshire called Eyam. ‘Year of Wonders’ is a fictionalization of a true historic event. But for me, ‘Year of Wonders’ will always be my favourite of hers. Geraldine Brooks has gone on to become a famed literary author – winning a Pulitzer for her novel ‘March’ and the Australian Literary Fiction Award in 2008 for ‘People of the Book’. And in the years since I have gone back and re-read the book for the comfort and sadness it brings. But when I finally closed the book I breathed a sigh of relief and knew I had found a ‘keeper’. The afternoon I first read this book is imprinted on my memory forever - it was during the summer school holidays I read it on a swing chair in my backyard and cried and cried and cried for a whole afternoon. The book was published in 2001, and I read it when I was about 15. Geraldine Brooks debut novel, ‘Year of Wonders’ is one of my all-time favourites. Year of Wonders is a detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. As she struggles to survive, a year of plague becomes, instead, annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders." Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged mountain spine of England. When villagers turn from prayers and herbal cures to sorcery and murderous witch-hunting, Anna must confront the deaths of family, the disintegration of her community, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit love. But as death reaches into every household, faith frays. Convinced by a visionary young minister, they elect to quarantine themselves within the village boundaries to arrest the spread of the disease. Through Anna's eyes, we follow the story of the plague year, 1666, as her fellow villagers make an extraordinary choice. When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated mountain village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer.
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