Year of Wonders

Content Warning: The source material contains child death, extreme violence towards women, detailed descriptions of traumatic births, symptoms from severe illness, and painful death.

After meeting with the Earl of Chatsworth and declaring the roads open, Mr. Mompellion closes himself inside the rectory and never leaves. Anna buries Faith and Aphra, as well as Elinor since the rector is paralyzed with grief. Mr. Stanley conducts Elinor’s funeral.

Mr. Mompellion stops sleeping. He continually stares at Elinor’s garden or paces the floor. Anna does her best to continue serving him to honor Elinor, but she fears for his mental stability. She calls for Mr. Stanley to visit him, and he worries that the rector’s mind is fraying. Mr. Mompellion asks that Mr. Stanley stop visiting and asks Anna to deliver a message: “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” (265), which means “Untrue in one thing, untrue in everything” (265). When she relays the message to Mr. Stanley, he appears visibly disturbed. Anna maintains the Gowdies’ garden and continues to attend to the town’s medical needs, though she admits that the practice fills her with sad memories of the loss of Mem, Anys, and Elinor.

The village plods on with life, but Anna worries that the survivors resent the rector’s urging for them to quarantine, and some even blame him for all the deaths. Anna tries to relay good news from the villagers to Mr. Mompellion, such as Mary Hadfield’s betrothal or Merry Wickford and Jane Martin’s budding friendship, but he doesn’t care. Anna feels lost, thinking that she survived the plague and now lives out her days serving a man who wants to die. Seeing that he hasn’t shaved since Elinor’s death, Anna offers to do the job, but when she touches his face, she blushes and can’t finish.

The narrative comes full circle, with the Bradfords returning at the end of the fall season. After Elizabeth Bradford leaves, Anna visits Anteros in the stall and pulls out the letter she found that Mr. Mompellion verbally dictated to the Earl, who sent it to Elinor’s father announcing her death. She muses on his words, “never do that thing upon which you dare not first ask a blessing of God” (270), and wonders if the rector has completely lost his faith. She rides Anteros swiftly across the moors into the neighboring town, relishing her freedom and the joy of being alive.

Mr. Mompellion is waiting for her when she returns and asks if she has lost her mind, and she replies by asking him the same. He crumples to the ground in tears, and when Anna holds him as he cries, they begin to kiss passionately until the stable boy walks in. Anna rushes inside, embarrassed by the encounter, but Michael follows, and they make love on the kitchen floor and then upstairs in his bed. Afterward, they lie together, recounting all they have loved and lost, not speaking of the plague.

Anna goes home to tend to the sheep, and Michael follows and helps her with the chores, asking if he can stay the night and serve her. After washing her feet and massaging them, they make love on the floor and then share a meal. After having sex again in her bed, Anna falls into a deep sleep. The following day, she asks Michael if he thinks of Elinor when they are together, and he confesses that he and Elinor never consummated their marriage. He withheld sexual gratification from Elinor to redeem her soul from her grievous sin, one she could never atone for on her own. He claims that by begrudging himself pleasure in the process, he should be regarded as a saint, but now that it is evident that there is no God, he sees that the entire enterprise was pointless.

Anna is horrified at the revelation and runs from the cottage to Elinor’s grave, shocked at the hidden torture her friend endured in her marriage. Anna hides in the church and begins praying the Apostle’s Creed and hears a voice say, “Do you, Anna? Do you still believe in God?” (282) It is Elizabeth Bradford who has come to pray for her mother, who is dying in childbirth. Colonel Bradford sent a surgeon who, after examining her, claimed there is no hope to save her or the baby. Anna offers help, but Elizabeth scoffs, claiming she couldn’t know more than a learned surgeon from London. However, she relents, saying Anna can at least bear witness to her mother’s death and report back to the rector that his prophesy about their judgment came true.

Anna examines Mrs. Bradford. The baby is breech, but Anna sees she can efficiently resolve the problem and wonders if the surgeon intentionally left on Colonel Bradford’s command. She delivers a healthy baby girl and instantly feels that God has preserved her life just for this moment. Anna tells Elizabeth to go to the Gowdies’ for nettle to strengthen her mother’s blood, but Elizabeth refuses. Anna prepares to leave but realizes that she needs more clothing for the journey, and when she goes back inside, Elizabeth is drowning the baby in the kitchen. Anna lunges for the baby and holds off Elizabeth with a meat hook. Elizabeth claims that her father will never allow the “bastard” to live.

Anna demands that Elizabeth let her take the baby and raise it. Elizabeth agrees, but only if Anna promises to leave the village forever. They work out terms for Elizabeth to provide money to fund Anna’s new life. Mrs. Bradford thanks Anna for saving her daughter and gives her a ring and necklace to give the child when she is older.

At her cottage, Anna feeds the baby with milk from the cow before packing her meager belongings. She plans to leave her cottage and sheep to Merry Wickford and travel by mule out of town. Michael arrives and tells her that he learned of the happenings at the Bradfords, and he fears that Elizabeth may change her mind and, to protect her family’s reputation, kill both Anna and the baby. He tells her to leave immediately and ride Anteros to shelter at Elinor’s father’s estate. As she rides away, she stops briefly to look at him again.