Year of Wonders

A Novel

By: Geraldine Brooks

Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks

“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.

Critic reviews

Praise for Year of Wonders:

"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

"Brooks proves a gifted storyteller as she subtly reveals how ignorance, hatred and mistrust can be as deadly as any virus. . . . Year of Wonders is itself a wonder." —People

"A glimpse into the strangeness of history that simultaneously enables us to see a reflection of ourselves." —The New York Times Book Review

"Elegant and engaging." —Arthur Golden

"Year of Wonders has it all: strong characters, a trememdous sense of time and place, a clearly defined heroine and a dastardly villain." —The Denver Post

Audible: WHY WHY WHY do you let authors read....?

Although I did get used to the reader (the author) and you fall into her cadence, she is NOT a professional and it really took a lot away from the story for me.

The story, BTW, was excellent. I loved it, despite a very bizarre ending that comes out of left field. I'm not talking about a typical surprise ending - I'm talking about "W H E R E did T H A T come from..."

Burn It All!!

I only had one all time favorite book before I read this, now I have two. I will remember this book for years to come. There are so many great passages in this book. I won't spoil the wonder of them for you by quoting them here. There is much sadness and suffering in the book so be warned. The author did a wonderful job of putting you in the middle of the plague epidemic. You can get at true sense of what it must been like for so many during that time. The story focuses around a housemaid named Anna and what the plague does to her family as well as the her village and the inhabitants. It held my interest from the first page until the last. I truly did not want it to end.

A riveting listening read

This book, this audiobook, is an example of a perfect melding of narrator and book... both being excellent. It is a book – – a story – – the telling of which won't let you go and which stays with you, until you shake your head and remember you don't live within it – –and which is almost unimaginable without the voice through which I heard it. Thank you Geraldine Brooks

Engaging and insightful story but performance is :( !

Geraldine Brooks is a solid author and, I can say this is one of my favorite books by this author. But after a couple of chapters, I was so distracted by the reader’s lack of voice inflection and enunciation, I looked for a different version on Audible. It was then I realized the reader was the author… I finished it but think this would have been more enjoyable if performed by a professional reader.

Why in Gods name is the author the narrator?

I feel so shortchanged — after triple checking my ear buds were not in fact broken, I realized — no — the terrible quality of the $15 audiobook I just shelled out for is the result of the author reading this herself — throat clearing and monotone soporific tone and all. Frustrated. But will finish it begrudgingly.