Year of Wonders

Description: In 1666, a young woman comes of age during an extraordinary year of love and death. Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a "plague village" in the rugged hill country of England, "Year of Wonders" is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history, written by the author of "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women."

Review Quotes: Praise for Year of Wonders

"The novel glitters . . . A deep imaginative engagement with how people are changed by catastrophe." --The New Yorker

"Plague stories remind us that we cannot manage without community . . . Year of Wonders is a testament to that very notion . . . [The villagers] assume collective responsibility for combating the plague, rather than seeing it as an act of God before which they are powerless." --The Washington Post

"Year of Wonders is a vividly imagined and strangely consoling tale of hope in a time of despair." --O, The Oprah Magazine

"Brooks proves a gifted storyteller as she subtly reveals how ignorance, hatred and mistrust can be as deadly as any virus. . . . Year of Wonders is itself a wonder." --People

"A glimpse into the strangeness of history that simultaneously enables us to see a reflection of ourselves." --The New York Times Book Review

"Elegant and engaging." --Arthur Golden

"Year of Wonders has it all: strong characters, a trememdous sense of time and place, a clearly defined heroine and a dastardly villain." --The Denver Post