'Year of Wonders' by Geraldine Brooks

[VenusWasHerName]

I've just read this and loved it, loved it, loved it.

Has anyone read any of her other books, and if so, would you recommend them?

Or alternatively, if I liked this, what else might I like?

[iwastooearlytobeayummymummy]

You might like Alias Grace by Margaret Attwood as it is also about a woman ostracised by a community,but set in 1860s settler community in Canada ( I seem to recall)
I really enjoyed Year of Wonders but read it too long ago to recall much detail, apart from being intrigued by the knowledge and superstition surrounding wise women healers.

[seaturtle]

Is this the one set during the Plague? Read this years ago and loved it too.

[DandyDan]

I think if you liked this, you'd like her other books. Or those by Tracy Chevalier. From other people I know who have read this one, they did enjoy her other books.


Personally I loathed this book: it's one of the very few I dis-recommend to people. I thought it was appalling from start to especially the finish. But that's okay - people like very different things in books and types of stories.

[VenusWasHerName]

Yes, you do have a point about the ending, the Arabic part was spurious in the extreme. Not sure why she didn't just leave it with Anna's departure from the village.

[pointydog]

I've only read March and found it v v boring.

[BelligerentGhoul]

Yes, try Atwood. Or Mistress Of The Art Of Death by Ariana Franklin. Or there is one by I think Jim Crace called (I think) The Plague House, which you might like. It irritated me but isn't bad for a 'historical, female centred' novel.

Why can't I remember what happened at the end of the Eyam one? Did it turn really silly? Am I right in thinking it was the one with the vicar-ish chap?

[BelligerentGhoul]

Tracey C really, really irritated me. :)

[pointydog]

Chevalier similar style and yes, I find her stuff dull and irritating too.

[VenusWasHerName]

yes, there was the clergyman as a central character and then in the last few pages it all took a turn for the decidedly-quite-odd, and it turned out he had a very dark side that hadn't been apparent throughout the book. It wasn't strictly necessary, the book was powerful enough without it.

[Bue]

I do love a good plague novel! A Parcel of Patterns is also v good (even though it's a children's novel.)

I agree with Atwood. Alias Grace is an exceptional read.

[DandyDan]

A Parcel of Patterns is way better than Year of Wonders - particularly the relationship between the clergy in the village, and the real difficulty of being parted from loved ones because of the plague or death. YoW was over-dramatic and people with stereotypes and made the rather saintly historical figure of Pastor Mompesson into a rather unpleasant Rev Mompellion.