Year of Wonders; a novel of the plague - Audiobook Review

Geraldine Brooks. Read by Josephine Bailey. Books on Tape. #5708. 2001/2001.7-1 hour tapes. 0-7366-7168-8. $56.00. Vinyl binder; plot notes. SA

The very words, "the plague," instill fear three-and-a-half centuries after the bubonic plague devastated England in the mid-17th century, This excellent piece of historical fiction with a feminist twist, which is based on extensive research by journalist and first-time novelist Brooks, explains why. Using much well-wrought detail, she effectively recreates the life of a small English village in 1665-66, the year when the extraordinary real Derbyshire villagers this story is based on, understanding only that the plague spread through contact, chose to isolate their mountain village from the rest of the world until the scourge passed. Two-thirds of the population of several hundred died from the fast-killing disease. Anna, a young housemaid and widow, tells of the horrors of the awful, exhausting year, from how the fateful decision is made to the hysteria and scapegoating that follow. Bailey is a very good reader, her accents and voices well chosen, authentic-sounding and compelling. Subtexts include the role of religion; the fallacies of science and medicine; and gender and caste equity, (KLIATT's review of the abridged version of this title appeared in Nov. 2001, p. 54.) Jacqueline Edwards, Bedford, MA

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kliatt
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group