Year of Wonders

A Novel

By: Geraldine Brooks

Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

“Plague stories remind us that we cannot manage without community . . . Year of Wonders is a testament to that very notion.”–The Washington Post

An unforgettable tale, set in 17th century England, of a village that quarantines itself to arrest the spread of the plague, from the author The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

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. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

©2010 Penguin Audiobooks (P)2010 Geraldine Brooks

Critic reviews

"The novel glitters . . . A deep imaginative engagement with how people are changed by catastrophe."—The New Yorker

“Plague stories remind us that we cannot manage without community . . . Year of Wonders is a testament to that very notion . . . [The villagers] assume collective responsibility for combating the plague, rather than seeing it as an act of God before which they are powerless.”—The Washington Post

"Year of Wonders is a vividly imagined and strangely consoling tale of hope in a time of despair."—O, The Oprah Magazine

Good story, but...

I will read more of this author's books, as I quite enjoyed this one, but NOT if she is the narrator. To paraphrase another reviewer, a great writer does not equal a great narrator.

Give it a try!

Lots of people seem to strongly dislike the author’s reading voice, but I thought it was perfect for the character and had a calming effect (which was pleasant, given the nature of the story). I spoke to a friend yesterday who also just finished the audible version and she agreed that she liked the reading voice, too. I think it’s worth trying, at least! Return it if you can’t enjoy it.

Great book, terrible reader!

If you could sum up Year of Wonders in three words, what would they be?

Exciting, heartbreaking, uplifting

What did you like best about this story?

The historical aspect of the story was my favorite part - Brooks manages to get into the minds of her characters and bring them to life in a way that's relevant to today. I love anything written by Geraldine Brooks.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Geraldine Brooks?

Barbara Caruso, Jennifer Ehle, there are many wonderful narrators who would do justice to this book. A reader with a British accent, or should I say a GOOD reader with a British accent would be fine.

Who was the most memorable character of Year of Wonders and why?

I haven't finished the book, but so far it's Anna.

I'm reviewing early because I just had to comment on the poor choice of Geraldine Brooks as the narrator. Yikes, I hope I can last til the end - her reading is monotone, whiny and just plain bad.

Any additional comments?

Great book, bad reader - I'll say it again. I will never buy another audible book read by the author - I've been disappointed too many times.

The narrator sounds either bored or half asleep

While I could nitpick (What happened to the horse?!?), I’ll say that the story is a good view into what happens when The Black Death hits a self-quarantined English village in the 1600’s. I read the book years ago and loved it. This time I listened to it being read, and wanted to slap the narrator awake. Oh, and although I understand the importance of religion in that era, I got mighty tired of the preacher’s sermons.

Amazing story and characters!

The story line was amazing. The characters are easy to imagine and you feel like you actually know them. Hearing all of the small details of Anna’s work and everyday tasks really made me feel like I was apart of her life. The way the author wrote about Anna’s two sons really jerked at my heart. As a mother hearing about the detailed loss of both the boys actually made me cry. These are the kind of books I think about years down the road.

A lot of people weren’t happy with the narration, but I feel like that sleepy tone was EXACTLY how the book should be read. In the book Anna says at some point “we’re all so tired.” Reading in a sleepy voice is genius because the book is about so much heart ache, so much loss and just struggling to find the will power to go on everyday.

Great read ...until the end

i teally enjoyed the book except the last chapter. learning about the history of the plague was very interesting

Wonderful story

I admire Geraldine Brooks as a writer, and was riveted by the story.
Her narration did not do the work justice. Too monotone, often dropping the ends of the sentence. I won’t be reading her other books on Audible, but l will read them in hard copy.

Story’s great - Narration sucks

Amazon needs to start reading our reviews and STOP letting authors read their own works. This is the 4th review I’ve done with same problem. For God’s sake hire a professional! Geraldine sounds bored stiff. Very weak voice - and some odd inflections I can’t describe. You are an audible company. So put some effort into selecting a good reader, so we can enjoy the experience.

Decent Story, TERRIBLE NARRATOR

I put this on my TBR after - I'm almost certain - hearing it mentioned in The Black Death: The World's Most Devastating Plague, a lecture series given by Dr. Dorsey Armstrong (hosted by the Great Courses), which I listened to last year. In one of the last lectures, passing mention of Eyam - the real life village and resulting 17th century quarantine that this novel is based on - is made during one of the last lectures, so I bookmarked it as something to read despite the fact that I usually do not read historical fiction. With that in mind, this is my review.

Year of Wonders is a decent book. It has a somewhat flowery writing style that fits well with the setting if not the main character, a widow in her late teens who is maid to the village Rector and his wife. The plot gets going fairly quickly and once rolling keeps the punches coming; I read the book in less than a day because I couldn't put it down. The only real complaint and I have - and it is, admittedly, a fairly large one for a novel so based on drama - is that the main character, Anna, is so emotionally detached throughout the story. I don't mean that she becomes emotionally detached over the course of acting as a assistant healer while two-thirds of her village - including both of her young children - die, I mean she starts out emotionally detached and this state does not change over the course of events. This is problematic, because if the main character and person through whose eyes the reader is experiencing the story feels little/nothing over things as important as her toddler and infant dying of plague, then why should the reader care about any of this? It ends up being vaguely interesting, but in a hollow sort of way.

That being said, the narrator for Year of Wonders is awful and only contributes to the problem. I don't think she understands how to modulate her voice to convey excitement, grief, anxiety, or any other emotion. She keeps using the same plodding near-monotone that is very easy to tune out and makes it very difficult to pay attention. Given that the narrator is the author, I would say this might be due to lack of experience, but the book should have gotten a professional narrator regardless. Having someone who could have conveyed emotion with their voice might have helped allay the impression that Anna doesn't really care about anything, even as nearly everyone dies and her life falls apart around her.

With this in mind, I still think Year of Wonders is a decent book. It's clear in the writing that the author put a lot of thought and effort into preserving as much historical accuracy as possible while trying to create an interesting and emotional historical fiction on a topic that had thoroughly captured her own interest. However, it's my personal opinion that didn't really succeed on the 'emotional' bit. Her crafting a believable and somewhat authentic 17th century setting is enjoyable and there is lots of drama to keep readers' attention. I just think that drama lacks emotional punch due the main character's own distant and dispassionate emotional state and the near-monotone narration. I give the book a solid three stars.

Highly Recogmend

Stunning narrative, beautifully written, read by the author. Not for squeamish readers. I would read anything by Geraldine Brooks.