Plot Summary of Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonders, A Novel of the Plague is by the prize winning author Geraldine Brooks. The novel was based off the true story of a village in England, during a plague in the seventeenth century. The residents of Eyam, also known as the Plague Village, sacrificed themselves. The villagers quarantined the village to prevent the spread of the disease to the rest of the country.The story is told through from the perspective of the main character, Anna Frith, a housemaid. Instead of starting the book at the beginning of the plague, The story begins near its end, in the fall of 1666.

Michael Mompellion is the village rector. His wife Elinor has recently died. Michael, Elinor, and Anna Frith have been the key caregivers in their village during the plague.Next, the author takes the reader back to the Spring of 1665, before the start of the plague. Eyam is a small, poor, rural village located in the rugged hill country of Derbyshire, England. Which raises the question, How does an isolated village become infected with the plague. Anna Frith is an 18-year old widow with two children. To survive, she takes in an itinerant, George Remington Viccars, as a tenant in her home. George then receives a shipment of cloth from London to make dresses for his clients. This cloth carries the plague with it. The tailor gets ill with a high fever and starts showing symptoms of the bubonic plague. He dies a few days after catching the illness. Before he dies, George figures out that the cloth he recieved must be the cause of his illness. His last words to Anna are to beg her to burn the dresses and cloth. Anna ignores him, and the infected dresses go to his customers’ homes.

After George’s death, Anna finds work as a housemaid for the Bradfords, a wealthy family in the village. While at the Bradfords, Anna learns that a plague has reached London.The deaths begin as villagers get ill with the plague and die. Anna’s two sons and neighbors are among the first victims. Anys Gowdie and her niece are accused of witchcraft and of having caused the deaths. The villagers create an angry mob and kill the two women to end the curse on their village. The rector, Michael Mompellion, is the new priest in the village. He faces the mob and orders them to stop.In his Sunday sermon, Michael begs the people to stop rioting. He also urges all the residents to stay in the village. This will stop the spread of the plague to other villages and towns although this is a death wish for most of the residents. The village decides to put itself in quarantine and be isolated from the outside world. The Bradford family decides to flee the village and try to outrun the plague.After the Bradfords leave, Anna goes to find work at the Mompellions. Elinor Mompellion takes the uneducated Anna under her wing and teaches her how to read. The two women become close as they struggle to care for their village. Michael Mompellion comes up with the idea that the villagers should burn all of their belongings to attempt to get rid of the plague. Michael’s plan works and he holds a service of thanks to celebrate the end of the plague. During the service, Elinor is killed by a village woman who has gone mad after the death of all her children.

Finally, the novel returns to the point where it started. Michael is no longer able to care for the villagers due to his grief. Anna tries to comfort him but ends up leaving the village with the baby of Elizabeth Bradford.In the epilogue, it is three years later. Anna originally planned to stay in England with Elinor’s family. Instead, she boards a boat to Oran, on the coast of North Africa. After meeting a Muslim doctor, she becomes the doctor’s wife, in name only, in order to study under him. She becomes a midwife to the local Muslim women. Besides Elizabeth Bradford’s daughter, Aisha, she also has a child named Elinor, whose father is Michael Mompellion.