Year of Wonders

The wood stacked by the door, the tang of its sap still speaking of forest. The hay made all golden in the low afternoon light. The rumble of the apples tumbling into the cellar bins.”

The author employs sensory imagery to detail the sights and sounds of the late fall season. However, the descriptions are tinged with an undercurrent of foreboding as Anna explains that there aren’t many people left in the village to enjoy the fruits of the harvest. The passage foreshadows the tale of plague the novel will tell, with “the rumble of the apples” introducing one of the novel’s prominent symbols (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“The Puritans, who are few amongst us now, and sorely pressed, had the running of this village then.”

Puritanism, a branch of Protestantism, arose in England in the 16th century in opposition to the Catholic Church. Known for their austere lifestyle, Puritans shunned all worldly pleasures and lived by a strict moral code. Michael Mompellion, as an Anglican rector, signals a change in church leadership in Eyam.

“I left the children in their sleepy tangle, tiny Tom curled up like nutmeat in its shell, Jamie’s slender little arms flung wide across the pallet.”

The author uses a simile comparing Tom’s tiny body to the inside of a walnut, emphasizing his youth and vulnerability. The language conveys Anna’s deep love for her sons, depicting her as a devoted mother. These moments of familial calm will form a stark contrast to the loss and devastation of the plague that will shortly arrive.