If you enjoyed reading Year of Wonders, here are works of fiction and nonfiction that you might enjoy.
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If you are interested in reading more about the plague and epidemics, you might try these:
Fiction:
The Black Death: A Personal History by John Hatcher
Compelling novel of historical fiction that combines fact and fiction as it re-creates the everyday life experiences of the villagers in a mid-fourteenth-century rural English village who are experiencing the devastation brought on by the plague epidemic of 1340.
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
It is 2048 and a history student who decides to travel back in time to an English village , mistakenly arrives in 1348 right in the middle of the Black Death epidemic. The student, who is now stranded in 1348 because a deadly influenza epidemic has broken out in 21st century England, witnesses firsthand the devastation and suffering caused by the plague.
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel DeFoe
Written in diary form by a man who actually lived in London during the 1600s, this is a graphic and moving account of life in the city during the plague epidemic of 1665. The story is a historical and fictional reconstruction, considered one of the best literary accounts of this, or any other natural disaster.
The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen
In the fall of 1918, a mill town in the Pacific Northwest votes to quarantine itself in the wake of the flu pandemic. When a weary soldier arrives and tries to force his way into the town, a confrontation occurs that results in devastating consequences for the entire town.
The Plague Tales by Ann Benson
Bubonic plague is the theme of this historical novel which provides parallel tales of a 14th century physician who is battling the plague in Europe and a forensic archeologist who unknowingly releases the bubonic plague in 21st century England.
Nonfiction:
The Black Death: A Chronicle of the Plague by Johannes Nohl
The Black Death: A Chronicle of the Plague traces the ebb and flow of European pandemics between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries through translations of contemporary accounts and provides lessons on how humans reacted to and survived catastrophic loss of life to disease.
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly
This excellent and illuminating overview of the plague is brimming with first-hand accounts drawn from the Middle Ages. It includes a thorough breakdown of the three types of plagues that prey on humans; a detailed account of how the plague traveled from nation to nation (initially by boat via flea-infested rats); how the appalling hygiene of medieval people made them so susceptible to the disease.
The Great Plague: the Story of London’s Most Deadly Year by A. Lloyd Moote and Dorothy C. Moote
This is an extraordinary and insightful account of life in London during the plague outbreak of 1665. The authors provide historical details of the devastation unleashed by the plague and they also provide examples of how ordinary individuals and families responded to the dilemma by staying in London instead of fleeing the city.
Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill
This publication reflects on the influence infectious diseases have had on the course of history and examines plagues and epidemics in the 21st century. Special attention is paid in the book to the Black Death of the 13th and 14th centuries.
Quarantine by Brian Henry
Book-length poem that is written in 40 verse sections and includes several brief sections of prose portrays the life of an Englishman as he lies dying of the plague in 1665.
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If you are interested in reading more about the time period (England in the 1600s), you might try these:
Fiction:
Bone House: A Novel by Betsy Tobin
This is a historical mystery about a young chambermaid in a local manor house who attempts to solve the mystery of the death of the village prostitute. The novel, narrated by the chambermaid, is set in rural seventeenth-century England and provides the reader with wonderful details about daily Elizabethan life (teeth, medicine, makeup, manners) and its rigors (famine, fever, plague).
Down the Common: A Novel by Ann Baer
This understated tale presents a year, one day of each month, in the life of a rural peasant in medieval England.
Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
A poor 16-year-old girl in seventeenth-century Holland is hired to be a maid in the household of the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Scandal erupts when Vermeer creates a painting of the servant girl wearing his wife’s earrings. The details in this book bring 17th-century Holland to life.
Nonfiction:
Life in a Medieval Village by Frances Gies and Joseph Gies
This book is a vivid and factual portrayal of the everyday lives of the people in the English village of Elton during the Middle Ages.
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If you are interested in reading more about the religious climate, you might try these:
Fiction:
The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent
This novel paints a vivid and disturbing picture of Puritan New England life. The story, told from the point of view of the accused young daughter Sarah, is a tale about one of the first women to be accused, tried, and hanged as a witch in Salem. The author is a tenth- generation descendent of Martha Carrier (who was hanged as a witch in Salem in 1692) and the story is based on facts and the author’s family history.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Classic novel of Puritanism. A young woman in colonial Massachusetts is publically branded for committing adultery and is forced to wear the letter A as punishment.
The Witches Trinity: A Novel by Erika Mailman
When famine strikes a medieval German village, the starving villagers turn for help to a visiting friar, who tells them that all their troubles are because of the witches in their midst. One woman who becomes the target of the villagers’ hate is burned, but it does nothing to alleviate the villagers’ troubles or rectify the situation in the village.
Nonfiction:
Princes, Pastors, and People: The Church and Religion in England 1500-1700 by Susan Doran
This book traces the many changes in religious life that took place in the turbulent years of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as explains the major historical controversies surrounding the period.
Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Francis J. Bremer
Written by a leading expert on the Puritans, this is a brief, informative book that offers a wealth of background on Puritanism. Bremer examines issues such as puritan theology, views on family and community, their beliefs about the proper relationship between religion and public life, the limits of toleration, the balance between individual rights and one’s obligation to others, and the extent to which public character should be shaped by private religious belief.
Witches and Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft by Robin Briggs
This is an exploration and thought-provoking analysis about witchcraft. Briggs has researched records of village trials and includes actual personal testimonies of those accused of witchcraft and their accusers. Briggs reports that “unneighborliness,” was a primary element of many accusations and that stinginess, envy, or malice were often the impetus for a charge of witchcraft.
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If you are interested in reading more about strong young women who persevere in spite of challenging circumstances, you might try these:
Fiction:
The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman
It is 1831 and in the town of Sunderland, England, a poverty-stricken young girl named Gustine supports herself and her young child by working as a prostitute during a cholera epidemic. Gustine, like Anna, perseveres in spite of challenging circumstances to provide a better life for her child.
The Lacemaker by Janine Montupet
This novel, set in seventeenth century France, follows the life of fifteen year old Gilonne Perdriel who owns her own lace making shop. This is a work of rich historical fiction that offers a portrayal of a young heroine who rises from nothing to achieve success through her wit and feisty spirit.
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If you are interested in reading more about countries along the Mediterranean coast during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, you might try these:
Fiction:
The Fourth Queen: A Novel by Debbie Taylor
In 1769, a young woman traveling from Scotland to America is captured by pirates and taken to Morocco. In Morocco, she attracts the attention of the emperor and ultimately becomes his fourth wife. The story provides rich details of Morocco in the eighteenth century as well as intimate details about the women in the harems.
The Tenth Gift: A Novel by Jane Johnson
A modern-day craft shop owner receives a book of sewing patterns published in 1625 and inside she discovers the words of Cat, a 19-year-old British servant kidnapped by Muslim raiders and taken to Morocco to be sold into slavery. The shop owner travels to Morocco to investigate Cat’s story. This story offers vivid descriptions of life in Morocco in the seventeenth century.
Nonfiction:
The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem by Douglas Scott Brookes
This is a collection of translated memoirs in which three women who lived in the Ottoman imperial harem in Istanbul between 1876 and 1924 offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Muslim palace women of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
A Reading Map for Year of Wonders 
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