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A young woman′s struggle to save her family and her soul during the most extraordinary year of 1666, when plague suddenly visited a small Derbyshire village and the villagers, inspired by a charismatic preacher, elected to quarantine themselves to limit the contagion.
In 1666, plague scorched London, driving the King and his court to Oxford, and Samuel Pepys to Greenwich, to escape contagion. The north of England remained untouched until, in a small community of leadminers and hill farmers, a bolt of cloth arrived from the capital. The tailor who cut the cloth had no way of knowing that the damp fabric carried with it bubonic infection.
So begins the Year of Wonders, in which a Pennine village of 350 souls confronts a scourge beyond remedy or understanding. Desperate, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and murderous witch-hunting. Then, led by a young and charismatic preacher, they elect to isolate themselves in a fatal quarantine. The story is told through the eyes of Anna Frith who, at only 18, must contend with the death of her family, the disintegration of her society, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit attraction.
Geraldine Brooks′ novel explores love and learning, fear and fanaticism, and the struggle of 17th century science and religion to deal with a seemingly diabolical pestilence. Year of Wonders is also an eloquent memorial to the real-life Derbyshire villagers who chose to suffer alone during England′s last great plague.
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Caleb's Crossing
′CALEB′S CROSSING ... reconfirms Geraldine Brooks′s reputation as one of our most supple and insightful novelists′ NEW YORK TIMES When Bethia Mayfield, a spirited 12 year old living in the rigid confines of a 17th-century English Puritan settlement, meets...
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Boyer Lectures 2011: The Idea of Home
For theBoyer Lecture 2011, best-selling author and journalist Geraldine Brooks tackles the topic of The Idea of Home. Drawing on her personal experience from being an adolescent pen pal to being a foreign correspondent in some of the world′s most dangerous countries to being a writer...
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Caleb's Crossing
In 1665, a young man from Martha′s Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. From the few facts that survive of his extraordinary life, Geraldine Brooks creates a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure. When Bethia Mayfield, a...
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Death of Kings
By Bernard Cornwell
Alfred, the great king, is said to be dying. Rivals for his succession are poised to tear the kingdom apart. The country Alfred has worked thirty years to build is about to disintegrate. Uhtred, the King′s warrior, Viking-born but Saxon-bred, wants more than...
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A Perfectly Good Man
By Patrick Gale
The apparent serenity of parish life in Pendeen and Morvah is disturbed when 20-year-old Lenny Barnes takes his own life in the presence of Father Barnaby Thomas, the charismatic, indefatigable local priest, whose enduring service has made him a popular member of his Cornish...
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Driving Jarvis Ham
By Jim Bob
Meet Jarvis Ham: tea-room assistant, diarist, lift-cadger, Princess Di fan, secret alcoholic, and relentless seeker of fame. Jarvis may be an all-round irritant, but he′s harmless, and deep down, you know, he′s got a heart of gold....
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