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Year of Wonders

a Novel of the Plague
Jul 05, 2017Belfire206 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Quite by accident I took this novel with me on a trip to Sweden and Estonia, places that put the plague in historical context. I was in the library looking for a book that was "lightweight" to carry and "airplane readable," so my standards weren't very high. But this literary story formed a perfect backdrop while visiting the medieval Old Town of Tallinn, Estonia, and the many historical museums in Stockholm, all of which touch on plague events experienced locally and the horrific "treatments" employed trying to stop the scourge. The novel is full of surprises and some depictions, though historically accurate, are emotionally challenging. I was engrossed down to the final, uplifting sentence, which made the perfect coda to the story's journey.