This is Geraldine Brook’s first novel and I found it brilliant and heart-wrenching. The setting is Eyam Derbyshire in 1665-1666 and is based on fact as this village was almost wiped out by the plague at the time.
The story is narrated by Anna Frith, a young widowed housemaid and farmer who after the plague death of her lodger watches the plague spread gradually from her cottage (taking her two young sons), to all the other homes in the village.
On the urging of the charismatic minister, Michael Mompellion, the village takes the difficult and unusual decision of quarantining itself to arrest the spread of the plague and save the surrounding villages.
Anna becomes close friends with the minister’s wife Elinor as they take on the role of healers, using herbs and common sense to strengthen the well and comfort the sick. As healers they risk being accused of witchcraft and defying the will of God.
Having lost all those close to her, Anna becomes jealous of the relationship between Michael and Elinor until eventually she discovers Michael’s darker side and finds out the appalling truth about Michael and Elinor’s relationship.
The story examines the effects of extreme tragedy on people’s minds and how they emerge once the tragedy has passed. Of the villagers who were fortunate or unfortunate enough to survive, some came out stronger while some just went mad.
The villagers reactions to plague deaths is coloured by the times. Medical ‘experts’ at the time were next to useless with the ‘cure’ for most illnesses being bleeding, by either using leeches or cutting a vein. Life was considered to be predetermined by God, so taking steps to arrest the spread of the plague was thought by many to be defying the will of God, and the use of medicines, witchcraft. Anna, Elinor and Michael realised that the plague needed to be seen as a thing in nature rather than part of God’s design or a punishment for sin.
At times I found the book a bit too subtle. I almost missed the references to rats and fleas and only realised that this was important because I knew that was how the plague was spread. I found myself wondering if there were other subtleties in the book that I did miss.
It is almost impossible to imagine the differences between a backward isolated English village and the Port of Oran (a coastal city in current Algeria). The epilogue is almost written in a different language and while entertaining only works if treated as an epilogue rather than part of the main story.
Book Published – 2001