Another novel that deals with living through the plague (albeit in the 17th c) is called _Year of Wonders_, and it's by Geraldine Brooks. It's inspired by the true story of the town in Derbyshire (Eyam) that quarantined itself. Also well worth reading when one can tear oneself away from something as satisfying as lace-making or spinning <g>.
About the politics...I'm a white-skinned American living in a part of our country formerly owned by people of another culture. Not only do I have slave-owners in my family background, I have great-greats who were rabidly anti-Catholic enough to be Orangemen. I do not find, in my heart of hearts, that I feel "guilty" about what happened in my family and country of origin before I was even born, although I do carry some sense of cultural shame about it. What I am *responsible* for is to ensure that I do as much as I can to see that atrocities and prejudices perpetuated in the past do not carry themselves forward. And yeah, it does mean increasing my level of awareness--for example, at least in my current culture, my skin color *does* make a difference that I often take for granted. The random fact that I was born female in America (as contrasted to, say, Afghanistan) *does* make a difference in how I can live my life. It behooves me, as an aware human being, to stay alert to false assumptions I grew up with about myself and about people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and to be willing to honestly confront those and discard them as irrelevant to truthful living. But then, I'd like to think that's something that we *all* need to deal with, no matter our gender or nationality or anything else.
--sue, who's getting down off her soap box now so she can go to bed. Goodnight everyone, from a snowy March night in Missoula, MT
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 18:24:05 +1100 (EST) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Helene=20Gannac?= <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [lace-chat] novel about the bubonic plague in England
Talking about bubonic plague...:-)), one of you might be able to help me!
I read a really good "sci-fi" book several years ago, but can't find it anywhere, and I've forgotten the title and the author!! It was about students in Cambridge or Oxford Uni who go back in time, and one of them has gone to the Middle Ages and is late coming back. The teams who man the time-machines are all going down with a strange sickness (in fact, flu, which someone has brought back from the past)which is killing lots of people, and the main character decides to go back and find the other student. She gets caught in the part of England where the bubonic plague started, and she feels terrible, because she cannot do anything to save all the people. Because towns and villages are shutting down to prevent sick people from arriving, she is stuck and has to share the live of the people of the period, and she catches the sickness, but survives...I can't remember whether she finds the other student or not, and I would like to re-read it. Anyone heard of it? I thought it was called something like "The seventh winter" or "The last winter"... Thanks!! Helene, the froggy from Melbourne
PS: another really good novel about the plague, but in Roman times, this one, is "Household Gods" by Judith Tarr. It is also very funny. It's the story of a modern times American woman who finds herself in Roman Germany, where her ancestors came from, and has to adapt to the life of a taverna (pub) owner. It's wonderful!! I thoroughly recommend it!
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