Year of Wonders

This book by Geraldine Brooks is a more compelling read than some of the others I have read or tried to read. One of the very first books I read as a member of a book group in Seattle was her non-fiction account of Muslim women, Nine Parts of Desire. That was years ago, and then more recently I read Caleb's Crossing, which I quite liked. I have started and not yet been able to finish People of the Book, but intend to do so before she comes to Bend as part of the library's "Author, Author" series of talks. Like Caleb's Crossing, this book is based loosely on an actual event: in 1666, a town in England chooses to isolate itself--no one leaves or comes in--to prevent the plague from passing beyond its borders. In this account, only the wealthy landowner defies the  minister's exhortations to take on this burden, and that family flees. Our narrator/protagonist, Anna Frith, already widowed by a mining accident, quickly loses her two young sons, and rather than lose herself to grief, begins to work at the rectory and to help the minister and his wife care for plague victims. When some drunken miners instigate the murder of the two women who have served as midwives and makeshift doctors for the town, Anna and Elinor, the minister's wife, seek to master the herbal lore to relieve some of the suffering. Anna and Elinor become close in spite of the significant differences in their social standing; Elinor teaches Anna to read and confesses dark secrets of her past. And Anna ponders on the fact that we never really know those around us. More surprises are in store--up to the very end--and Anna  will move on with her life in a most gratifying way.

Califia's Daughters

Boy I do not know how I missed this for so many years, but am grateful once again to the book blog from Powell's Bookstore in Portland for bringing it to my attention! This is Laurie R. King, writing as Leigh Richards, and she is simply a wonderful story teller, whether it is the slightly fanciful Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes mysteries, or her darker contemporary novels. The title is taken from the name of the Amazon queen, Califia, in Garci  Rodríguez de Montalvo's multi-volume tale, translated as The Labors of a Very Brave Knight  Esplandián.

In the latter part of the 21st century, the population has been decimated by the inadvertent release of bio-agents when terrorist groups opposed to technology started burning libraries and bombing labs. Another unexpected consequence is that one of the viral pathogens attaches itself to men only and is passed along generation to generation. As the book opens, 90% of the population is women. Men are protected and hidden like precious commodities. Outside of a few recreated cities, people live largely as they did in the 1900's with very basic machines (wind mills, etc.) and rely on farming and trading to survive. It is a largely lawless country and you travel at your peril and are always wary of strangers. So when a couple of covered wagons, accompanied by a guard of a dozen women, and carrying the "gift" of a man and boy come to the secluded Valley in south central California, they are initially greeted by just a few of the 100+ people living there. The travelers are asking permission to move their community south from Oregon because the radiation is poisoning the rivers, and an aggressive woman named Queen Bess is moving relentlessly south from Portland to take over every community that cannot fend off her army.
Dian, head of security for the Valley, begins to fall in love with their newest arrival, Isaac, and so it is harder than expected when she leaves to covertly investigate the group from Oregon before the Valley community offers final acceptance. The journey north is full of surprises starting with an abandoned female infant found at a crossroads. She is ambushed, badly wounded, loses her beloved wolfhound Culum, but is rescued by a man, Robin, living alone in the woods, disguised as a woman. When he is kidnapped by Destroyers, she is forced to go to Ashtown to find him and repay the debt of life she owes. This tale is realistically wrought, fast-moving and so well-developed that you will be looking for these characters after you close the book.