Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

My book club was scheduled to read March in a couple months and I had nothing, at the moment, in hand to read. So I moseyed over to the library and peeked about for March. It was not available. But Year of Wonders was.

The subtitle: A Novel of the Plague was just too irresistible. Plus I liked the font used for the title. It's also a pretty thin book, so I didn't feel like I was really committing a whole lot in case my spontaneity and impetuous book selection didn't pan out.

But then I loved it.

Based on a small village, Eyam, Brooks encountered in England, the novel is about the so-called "plague" town and what happened when the town was infected with the bubonic plague. In 1666, they willingly shut themselves off from all contact with outsiders until the plague ran it's course. Which ended up taking about a year.

I really liked the book. I thought it was well written and had some nice everyday-type moments that helped the reader really get a feel for the time and place. It's one of those blessed books that comes along and makes you think you could read everything the author has written and like it all. It made me VERY excited to read March and I added Book of the People to my list. {I didn't even put it at the bottom. I snuck it in closer to the top and am right now, several months and many books later, considering it as my next. I wonder how long the hold line is at the library?}

Onward. After all that you are now going to be surprised. I hated the ending. I will not spoil it, but it was terrible. Came-from-left-field-forced sort of ending. Which was sad. But the rest of the book was delicious enough to ignore the ending. It was simple; I just sort of re-wrote the ending in my head. I promise I held true to the character.