Real+events+inspire+the+story

//Year of Wonders// is based on a true story about how the Plague affected the villagers of Eyam – a small village in the middle of England in 1665. In early September 1665 the local tailor, George Viccars, died of bubonic plague. It is believed that he bought the disease to the village with a bolt of cloth. Over the following weeks other members of the village succumbed to the disease. To prevent the disease spreading to other villages the local rector, William Mompesson, convinced the people of Eyam to quarantine themselves within the village boundary. A few inhabitants fled, but most stayed. The plague outbreak continued for 14 months, with 274 of the village's population of around 350 dying over that time.

The Church in Eyam contains detailed displays and accounts of when the village went into voluntary quarantine when "The Plague" was imported in infected cloth from London in 1665. © Copyright [|Alan Fleming] and licensed for reuse under this [|Creative Commons Licence]. Photo: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/21749

Eyam Derbyshire Plague Cottage, Plague Cottage and Plaque © Copyright [|mickie collins] and licensed for [|reuse] under this [|Creative Commons Licence].

Geraldine Brooks - author of Year of Wonders **Question: You chanced upon the story of Eyam and its terrible history while living in England in 1990.**

The written record of what happened in Eyam during the plague year is scant. Apart from three letters by the rector, no narrative account from the year itself actually exists. The "histories" that purport to record the facts were actually written many years later, and historians have found inconsistencies that cast doubt on their accuracy. Therefore, there was no way to write a satisfying nonfiction narrative. And, since the story had taken root in my imagination, the only way to indulge my impulse to tell it was to take the leap into fiction. The factual basis of the story was actually very helpful to me: it was like having the framing of the house already erected—I could see the shape from the beginning.