Bad Bugs Book Club Reading Guide II: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The aim of the Bad Bugs Book Club is to get people interested in science, specifically microbiology, by reading books (novels) in which infectious disease forms some part of the story. We also try to associate books, where possible, with some other activity or event, to widen interest, and to broaden impact.
We have established a fairly fluid membership of our bookclub through our website In The Loop ( but we hope to encourage others to join, to set up their own bookclub, suggest books and accompanying activities to us, and give feedback about the books that they have read, using our website as the focus for communication.
Our bookclub comprises both microbiologists and members of the general public. We felt that this would encourage some discussion on the science – accuracy, impact etc – as well as about the book.
Year of Wonders is a narrative of the outbreak of plague that occurred in 1665 in Eyam, a small Derbyshire village. The village isolated itself from neighbouring communities to prevent spread of the disease, and many villagers died. We coupled this bookclub meeting with a visit to the village itself. For bookclubs that are less conveniently close to Eyam, there are many factual books and articles, and other novels (Pepys, Defoe) about the events, a musical (Eyam!), a play (the Roses of Eyam), school learning guides etc. Our meeting is described on a separate document.
Some points for discussion are suggested below.
Discussion points:
The book – did you enjoy it?
Based on well known story? (was it known to you?)
Likes and dislikes? Language, vocabulary?
Bringing in lots of issues (witchcraft, healing, superstition, lead mining, non-conformism, poppies)
Useful for science-literature relationship?
Characters
Were the characters real and believable?
Do they change or evolve through the course of the story?
Plot
Can you relate to the predicament?
Comments on content?
Anything you liked/didn’t like
Visit
Did the visit affect your perception of the story? In what way?
Differences between the real story and the novel – does it matter?
Sentimentalisation of the story 150 years on et seq; heroic tales,
Impact on current consciousness of village – tourism, education
200 year festival near date of Catherine Mompesson’s death
Musical (Eyam – the musical), plays (Roses of Eyam)
The Science
The Eyam plague was real.
Relationship to current infectious disease?
Value of isolation - heroic? lack of choice (related to wealth – nowhere to go)? Worsened situation? Imposed from outside (cordon sanitaire)?
Was it really plague? (rats, fleas)
Immunity to plague related to HIV
The plague nowadays
Other historical plague associations (Pepys, Defoe, Venice etc)
Joanna Verran