George turns out to be kind and interesting, entertaining Anna with tales of faraway London and playing with her sons, Jamie and Tom. With finances tight after the recent death of her husband in a mining accident, Anna takes in the apprentice tailor, George Viccars, as a boarder. The narrative goes back in time a year and a half, to the spring of 1665.
Mompellion suggests ironically that Elizabeth pray for divine assistance but says that she will find God a “poor listener.” Then he deliberately drops a Bible on the floor, shocking Anna with his blasphemous behavior. Elizabeth Bradford arrives at the rectory and haughtily demands that Anna and Mompellion come to the aid of her mother, who is suffering from a “tumor.” They are incensed by her behavior, given that her family fled the plague with no regard for the fate of the town, and they refuse to help. While she doesn’t mention the plague by name, she hints at the nature of the disaster that has decimated the population, threatened her own sanity, and catalyzed a breakdown in Mompellion, towards whom she is fiercely loyal and protective. She reflects that while autumn used to bring successful harvests and security for the winter, now it only reminds her how much the village has lost the rhythm of its ordinary life. Anna is the housekeeper to the vicar Michael Mompellion. The protagonist, Anna Frith, watches the half-hearted harvesting process as farmers bring bruised apples to the rectory. Year of Wonders opens in the autumn of 1666.
0 kommentar(er)
