4 April 2005
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
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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.
Transcript
This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.
Through Anna's eyes, we follow the story of the plague year, 1666, when her fellow villagers are convinced by a visionary young minister to quarantine themselves within the village to arrest the spread of the disease. But as death reaches into every household, faith frays. The villagers turn from prayers to witch-hunting, and Anna must confront the disintegration of her community. Yet as she struggles to survive, a year of plague becomes, instead, an annus mirabilis; a 'year of wonders.'
Abridged by Julie Hudspeth
Reader: Jeanette Cronin
Sound engineers: Louis Mitchell and Russell Stapleton
Producer and director: Anne Wynter
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague is published by Fourth Estate.
