I didn't hate it but it got on my nerves. The plot was kind of stupid. The ending was interesting though, and plagues are always fun. ( )

The novel's narrator is Anna, a young widow with two children. Anna lost her husband to a mining accident (the region is known for lead mining). To make ends meet, Anna takes in a border who is a tailor. He has brought with him bolts of cloth from London that are infected with fleas bearing the plague. The plague quickly spreads throughout the village. The local rector persuades the villagers to self-impose a quarantine. Anna serves as a house maid to the rector and becomes close to Elinor, the rector's wife. Elinor reveals a shocking incident in her young life involving a self-induced abortion of a pregnancy from a jilting lover. Anna knows two eccentric women who are healers of a sort and have a garden with many exotic plants and herbs. After the two healers are accused of witchcraft and are killed by a mob, Elinor and Anna cull the garden for salves and potions they use to alleviate the suffering of the stricken. Elinor is highly educated and is familiar with the works of Avincenna, a Muslim pioneer in medicine. Elinor had taught Anna to read as she recognized that Anna is very intelligent.

The novel uses an actual plague village from 1666 to tell the story. The horrors of the plague are vividly described. There are hundred of deaths, sometimes entire families. The plague brings out the best and worst of people. Anna's father and step mother are particularly repulsive. He is a drunkard who becomes a grave digger who extorts the families of the dead for his services, at one point he attempts to bury a boy alive. For this, he suffers a gruesome death at the hands of the outraged villagers. Anna's step mother loses her mind and in a frenzy unintentionally strikes Elinor with a knife killing her.

The plague runs its course. While still grieving Elinor, Richard has relations with Anna. He tells her that he was never intimate with Elinor, justifying his withholding of relations as her deserved atonement for her sin of aborting her baby. This shocks Anna and she withdraws from him. Anna encounters Elizabeth, the daughter of the local nobility. Elizabeth says her mother soon to die from a labor turned bad. Anna has had some experience as a midwife and goes to the Bradford estate to find that there has been an intentional effort to hasten the mother's death. After she successfully delivers the infant she observes Elizabeth trying to drown the new born. Her mother's pregancy was the result of an adulterous affair bringing shame on the family. Anna is falsely accused of taking jewels and, with the new born girl, flees. As she is being pursued she takes a ship which ultimately lands in Oman. She is taken in by Ahmen Bey, who, like Avincenna, is renowned for his advances in medicine. She becomes one of Bey's wives and bears his child. She becomes a medicine person, particularly for women who are not comfortable with male doctors.

The novel is well-plotted. The author has researched the effects of the disease. The descriptions of the sickness and violence are quite strong. ( )

This was a great read, though pretty heavy and more than slightly depressing. Not one to read if you are going through a rough patch, unless that sort of thing helps you out of it! ( )

The Black Death has always intrigued me, and this book was wonderful in how it explored the emotions attached to plague and the spreading of disease. The characters are especially enthralling, no doubt partly because they are based on real people. Highly recommend to those interested in history and social challenges brought on by disease. ( )

We listened to this on a trip across the Southwest. Geraldine Brooks read her own work to good effect. ( )