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Chargement... Year of Wonders (édition 2002)par Geraldine Brooks
Information sur l'oeuvre1666 par Geraldine Brooks
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. This was the second epidemic book I read during the pandemic time of actual real-world disease crisis, but this one was better. Based on a real-life story of an English village which had an outbreak of plague in the 1600s and closed itself off entirely to prevent spread to other towns, it’s mostly a sensitive and realistic look at what the twin pressures of isolation and illness can do to social structure until a WILD turn at the end that I did not love ( ) In 1665, the deadly bubonic plague settled in Eyam, a small town in Derbyshire. The inhabitants, moved by the words of their priest, William Mompesson, chose to isolate the village, neither travelling out of it nor allowing others into it, dooming its citizenry to die without outside aid, and saving those outside the village from contact with the disease. It was a brave move, one which would not go amiss in the 21st century's plague of Covid-19. In the novel Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks recreates the village of Eyam and its inhabitants, and pulls the reader headlong into the disease-ridden hamlet. I was fascinated by the book and the people within it. The book focuses on Anna Frith, who has lost two small sons to the disease, and on the local rector and his wife, who provide practical help and spiritual comfort to the dying and their families. I can't believe how quickly I read the book; it was that engrossing. The book is definitely one of my favourites of 2020, and I recommend it wholeheartedly. The novel's narrator is Anna, a young widow with two children. Anna lost her husband to a mining accident (the region is known for lead mining). To make ends meet, Anna takes in a border who is a tailor. He has brought with him bolts of cloth from London that are infected with fleas bearing the plague. The plague quickly spreads throughout the village. The local rector persuades the villagers to self-impose a quarantine. Anna serves as a house maid to the rector and becomes close to Elinor, the rector's wife. Elinor reveals a shocking incident in her young life involving a self-induced abortion of a pregnancy from a jilting lover. Anna knows two eccentric women who are healers of a sort and have a garden with many exotic plants and herbs. After the two healers are accused of witchcraft and are killed by a mob, Elinor and Anna cull the garden for salves and potions they use to alleviate the suffering of the stricken. Elinor is highly educated and is familiar with the works of Avincenna, a Muslim pioneer in medicine. Elinor had taught Anna to read as she recognized that Anna is very intelligent. The novel uses an actual plague village from 1666 to tell the story. The horrors of the plague are vividly described. There are hundred of deaths, sometimes entire families. The plague brings out the best and worst of people. Anna's father and step mother are particularly repulsive. He is a drunkard who becomes a grave digger who extorts the families of the dead for his services, at one point he attempts to bury a boy alive. For this, he suffers a gruesome death at the hands of the outraged villagers. Anna's step mother loses her mind and in a frenzy unintentionally strikes Elinor with a knife killing her. The plague runs its course. While still grieving Elinor, Richard has relations with Anna. He tells her that he was never intimate with Elinor, justifying his withholding of relations as her deserved atonement for her sin of aborting her baby. This shocks Anna and she withdraws from him. Anna encounters Elizabeth, the daughter of the local nobility. Elizabeth says her mother soon to die from a labor turned bad. Anna has had some experience as a midwife and goes to the Bradford estate to find that there has been an intentional effort to hasten the mother's death. After she successfully delivers the infant she observes Elizabeth trying to drown the new born. Her mother's pregancy was the result of an adulterous affair bringing shame on the family. Anna is falsely accused of taking jewels and, with the new born girl, flees. As she is being pursued she takes a ship which ultimately lands in Oman. She is taken in by Ahmen Bey, who, like Avincenna, is renowned for his advances in medicine. She becomes one of Bey's wives and bears his child. She becomes a medicine person, particularly for women who are not comfortable with male doctors. The novel is well-plotted. The author has researched the effects of the disease. The descriptions of the sickness and violence are quite strong.
Discriminating readers who view the term historical novel with disdain will find that this debut by praised journalist Brooks (Foreign Correspondence) is to conventional work in the genre as a diamond is to a rhinestone. With an intensely observant eye, a rigorous regard for period detail, and assured, elegant prose, Brooks re-creates a year in the life of a remote British village decimated by the bubonic plague. Est en version abrégée dansContient un guide de lecture pour étudiantPrix et récompensesListes notables
Based on the true story of Eyam, the "Plague Village," in the rugged mountain spine of England. In 1666, a tainted bolt of cloth from London carries bubonic infection to this isolated settlement of shepherds and lead miners. A visionary young preacher convinces the villagers to seal themselves off in a deadly quarantine to prevent the spread of disease. The story is told through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Anna Frith, the vicar's maid, as she confronts the loss of her family, the disintegration of her community, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit love. As the death toll rises and people turn from prayers and herbal cures to sorcery and murderous witch-hunting, Anna emerges as an unlikely and courageous heroine in the village's desperate fight to save itself. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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