Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks, 2001.

Geraldine Brooks’ astounding first novel, and international bestseller, is located in the notorious village of Eyam in Derbyshire which decided to cut itself off from the outside world in an attempt to suffocate the Great Plague of 1666. The book’s title is from the Latin phrase annus mirabalis which was coined by John Dryden in 1666 in his poem “Annus Mirabalis, the Year of Wonders”.  As the author says in the Afterword

“…. it always seemed incongruous that Dryden should have chosen [that title] to describe that terrible year of 1666, marked by plague, the Great Fire and the war with the Dutch. But Anna would surely have believed that ‘God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform” [p309]

The prose style is beautiful and concise and the descriptions of the natural world have, in places, echoes of the style of Emily Bronte. 

“There are some who deem this mountainside bleak country ….  Our only strong hue is green, and this we have in every shade: the emerald velvet mosses, the glossy tanged ivies, and in spring, the gold-greens of tender new grasses. For the rest we move through a patchwork of greys. The limestone outcrops are a whiteish-grey, the millstone grit from which we build our cottages a warmer greyish yellow. Grey is the sky colour here, the dove-breast clouds louring so upon the hilltops that sometimes you feel you could just reach up and bury your hands in their softness” [p65]

The main characters are Anna and the couple for whom she works during the greater part of the book, Michael Mompellion, the vicar, and his wife, Elinor. It is the vicar who persuades his congregation to renounce personal contact with the nearby villages despite unbearable personal loss which results in the deaths of two thirds of the village’s population. Anna and Elinor become close as they study herbs and medicines in an attempt to alleviate the deadly symptoms of the disease. Whilst contemplating the spread of the disease, Mompellion hits on the right idea when he commands the villagers to burn all their belongings especially those which have been in contact with Plague victims. They are also urged to scrub their homes with plenty of boiling water. The death rate begins to fall away but it is too late to save most.

An interesting character in the book is Anys Gowdie who has a very modern attitude to life and her place in society. She shuns convention by her actions as a free spirit and could have been a friend to Anna who is too timorous to risk association with her. Anys and her mother cultivate an herb garden and assist with births in the village but their medical knowledge becomes cause for suspicion when they are accused of witchcraft and ungodly ways and Anys is sacrificed by the superstitious villagers

Anna is, in some ways, a puzzling character as she travels on her personal journey towards maturity. Her positive relationships with men are short lived. Her marriage seems to have existed on a basic level and, though it gives her two young sons, when her husband is killed in a mining accident it is the practical difficulties that she feels the most. Her tailor lodger, George Viccars, with whom she becomes close, is the first Plague victim and Anna makes a fatal mistake when she lets the villagers take their partly completed garments away and carry the ‘Plague seeds’ with them against his instructions. Anna’s two young sons are amongst the first victims. Anna discovers that she was not the only woman in the village in George Viccars’ life which causes her some disillusionment. Later in the book Anna has a strange and brief relationship with Michael Mompellion, the vicar, after his wife is killed, but recoils from him when she learns of his cruelty towards Elinor. Anna reveals that she only began a physical relationship with Mompellion to get closer to Elinor who she misses bitterly. Anna’s relationships with other women begin to seem emotionally more compelling and fulfilling to her.

This was Geraldine Brook’s first novel but she has since added four more including March (2006) about the author Louisa May Alcott which won the Pulitzer Prize; People of the Book (2008) and Caleb’s Crossing (2012)

Although Australian by birth Brooks has citizenship of the United States and worked as a Foreign Affairs journalist before taking up fiction.

The Sans Pareil Mystery by Karen Charlton

Taking a detour from my summer house reading project I purchased a book for my Kindle last week. This book by Karen Charlton is the second in a series of books about Inspector Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods who live in Regency London. This case sees Lavender becoming involved with a beautiful Spanish emigre named Dona Magdelena who, somehow, gets into the middle of his investigation. The case revolves around the body of a young woman found under the floorboards of a derelict house which is being demolished. The doctor conducting the post mortem recognises her as April Clare, a young actress at the Sans Pareil Theatre in London, but all is not as straightforward as it may appear.
The descriptions of theatre life are interesting and there are references to the war at the time between Spain and France as the Napoleonic Wars loom. The author likes to present strong female characters and in this book, besides Dona Magdalena, we have Dorothy Jordan, mistress of the Duke of Clarence and Jane Shaw, owner of the Sans Pareil Theatre and some time writer of plays. I can see this as a television series with many more adventures of Lavender and Woods and it is an entertaining read.

As meat loves salt by Maria McCann

I have to confess that it took me a while to get into this book and there were parts where I was skipping ahead to see where it was going, but there were also parts that were compulsive reading. The main character of the book is Jacob Cullen - I hesitate to call him hero - who is one of three brothers compelled to work as servants on a neighbouring estate, because of their father's financial mismanagement. The main perspective we have of events is that of Jacob but we do not share all of his consciousnss until later in the book. We discover that he has murdered a young man, ostensibly through fear of being revealed as a reader of seditious material along with his brothers. The novel is set during the seventeenth century English Civil War and, as Jacob flees his crime, he is recruited as a Roundhead. The details of seventeenth century life are as well presented as though the author had lived them herself: the life of a soldier  and the dehumanising aspects of war. Jacob strikes up a physical relationship with Christopher Ferris, who had co-opted Jacob into the army and becomes completely possessed by him. An emotional power struggle ensues in which Ferris demands to know all about Jacob and tries to make him his creature.
Before leaving his place of work Jacob had been betrothed to Caro, a fellow servant, and it is on their wedding day that he absconds forcing her and his brother to go with him. He attacks them both viciously, and the violence that always simmers beneath the surface with him is revealed. After the army Jacob accompanies Ferris to London, where his aunt lives, and their relationship continues. Ferris has unconventional views and persuades Jacob to establish an alternative rural farming community with him and some others, these people will later be called Diggers. They start to plough up common land but of course the idyll cannot last.
It would be true to say that this is a dark novel about very dark characters (or one in particular) but at the same time the recreation of period detail and the feel of seventeenth century life is masterful, so with the proviso that it may not be for the squeamish it is certainly recommended.

Masterpiece of corruption by L C Tyler

Set in London and Brussels, this novel features as the main character John Grey who is actually a lawyer who works in Lincoln's Inn Fields but has also done some spying work in the past. Much is made of mistaken identity and John Grey has many names - he is mistakenly identified by two Royalists, Ripley and Broderick, as John Clifford, but as a spy he is also known as Mr Cardinal and Mr Plautus. The story happens in the years 1657- 8 and ends with the death of Oliver Cromwell and the return of Charles II to England to reclaim the throne.
John Grey receives a written message delivered to his lodgings inviting him to meet with a 'Mr SK' at a designated place. It soon becomes apparent that John Grey is not the intended recipient of the note but he attends the meeting anyway after deciphering that 'Mr SK' is a reference to the Sealed Knot, a Royalist organisation.
The title of the novel is a name given to one of the characters and the themes of the story include lies and deceit, a web of which threatens to engulf one who is attempting to spin it. The story is told with a sly and ironic humour and the narrator (Grey) never seems to take himself too seriously even when his life seems to be in danger. The author uses Grey for his naratorial perspective except for a scene at the end of the book where it shifts to that of the future king, Charles Stuart. The first novel in the John Grey historical series is "A cruel necessity" and the next is "Pestilence", which is to be a story about the Black Death, and I look forward to reading them both.

Chelsea Strangler by Susanna Gregory

Time to catch up here, as I have a couple of historical novels to add which I have read during the last few weeks. Firstly, the latest novel by Susanna Gregory in her series about the seventeenth century character Thomas Challoner, who is a spy for the Earl of Clarendon and supporter of the King. This novel, the eleventh in the series, sees Thomas sent to Chelsea by the Earl to investigate suspected fraud and theft at a private asylum there. Before Thomas arrives a female inmate is strangled whilst sitting in the gardens. Further murders ensue so Thomas's investigations become more widespread and complicated. Also in Chelsea is an old theological college which has currently been requisitioned to hold Dutch prisoners of war, but there are suspicions about the actual goings on there. Coupled to this are the antics at the notorious Buckingham House, scene of debauchery and late night parties amongst the titled and wealthy who are seeking to escape the Plague which is rampaging across London.

I found that there were too many characters, for me, in this convoluted plot which is not without its share of red herrings. At one point Challoner has up to ten suspects for the first murder making the first half of the book rather slow going as the reader attempts to assimilate all the names and remember their place in the story (or stories). As is usual in this series there are a number of genuine historical characters, with some of whom the author takes liberties by embroiling them in situations which they never would have encountered. There is no doubt that the author conducts a great deal of historical research to clothe her stories but to my taste it was all rather laboured. The episode in which Thomas attempts to escape from the prison, which he managed to sneak into to check out the strange goings on, becomes quite gripping as the reader becomes quite involved with his struggle but after this, the story slows down again.

I liked the map of the area and much of the historical background but, as this isn't the usual period I like to read about, I probably won't try another one.

Striking murder by A J Wright. Allison & Busby, 2015

Well plotted with a cast of likely suspects, 'A striking murder' is set during a miners' strike in nineteenth century Wigan. The year is 1893 and the town of Wigan, and its working class suburb of Scholes, is suffering a harsh and bleak winter. The colliery owner, Arthur Morris, is threatening to reduce the men's wages by 25 per cent which has resulted in a bitter strike. The novel opens with his murder in a dark alleyway in Scholes near the homes of the mining families and a long way from his own.
The story moves along at a brisk pace and the possible perpetators of this crime are many: the mining family of the Hagerty's whose daughter, Bridie, is in love with Andrew Morris, son of the colliery owner; James Cox, local steelworks owner, whose lucrative contract for Blackpool Tower is held up by the strike; Andrew Morris who want to elope with Bridie, against his father's wishes; Bragg, the shadowy one-eyed man who has been asking questions. The suspects are considered in turn until the final denouement which provides the twist in the tale. Excellent descriptions of the town, its inhabitants and the winter weather makes this a whodunnit well above the average.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Hailed in the blurb, on the paperback edition that I was reading, as an American classic this book was originally published in 1959. The novel is ostensibly about a friendship between two boys at a traditional American boys' boarding school in New England during the years prior to World War II. The boys in question are Gene, quiet, hard working and intelligent and Phineas, outgoing, popular,  and athletic. Phineas' ideas are always accepted by the group of boys of which he is the natural leader, which includes Gene. One such idea is the dangerous dare that involves jumping from a tree branch which projects over the river into the water beneath. Gene's inner resentment towards Phineas, supposedly his best friend, surfaces when he causes the branch on which Phineas is standing to move by rocking it. Phineas loses his balance sending him crashing to the bank beneath seriously fracturing his leg.
The novel depicts the strange atmosphere in the years leading up to the war, and the start of the war itself, on the boys' concerns over signing up as opposed to waiting for conscription. The boys in the school year in question are seen to be in their last idyllic summer before they have to face active service and possible death. The characters of the boys are well delineated which, together with intense boarding school life, serves to highlight the nature of their friendships and enmities. As the days progress, the characters have to face up to their inner demons and hopes of survival, leading to an unexpected climax.