Brooks, Geraldine

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague

ISBN: 067091021X
New York, NY: Penguin Group/ Viking, 2001. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Geraldine Brooks. "When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated mountain village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes, we follow the story of the plague year, 1666, as her fellow villagers make an extraordinary choice. Convinced by a visionary young minister, they elect to quarantine themselves within the village boundaries to arrest the spread of the disease. But as death reaches into every household, faith frays. When villagers turn from prayers and herbal cures to sorcery and murderous witch-hunting, Anna must confront the deaths of family, the disintegration of her community, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit love. As she struggles to survive, a year of plague becomes, instead, annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders." " (from front flap) The debut novel by Geraldine Brooks (b. 1955), the Pulitzer Prize-winning (for March, 2005) Australian-American author. This popular work of historical fiction was inspired by the true story of the English village of Eyam, & conjures through the perspective of the character Anna the experience of "...the collision of faith, science, and superstition at the cusp of the modern era." (front flap) Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $24.95 price & "0801" printed on front flap), first edition, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. On blank front endpaper is affixed a rectangular sticker with heading & quill-pen logo of the Delray Beach (Florida) Literary Society, below which Brooks has hand-written her signature in bold black ink. The foundational collectible in the acclaimed Brooks canon, in its rarest original form & greatly enriched with the author's signature. Book in very fine condition with only very light wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only a touch of rubbing & some faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same & flaps. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #5588]

Price: $60.00 save 15% $51.00