Year of Wonders Chapter 7 Quotes

Year of Wonders Chapter 7 Quotes

How we cite the quotes:
(Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote 1

And so the rest of us set about learning to live in the wide green prison of our own election. (2.7.33)

Even though Anna hardly ever leaves Eyam, she feels constrained once the village is shut off from the outside world. The rest of the villagers feel the same way. As we'll see, this ends up making everyone stir crazy, to put it mildly.

Quote 2

Perhaps, if my children yet lived, [...] I would have been driven to consider a desperate flight. (2.7.27)

Here, Anna wonders if she would have left Eyam if she still had her children to worry about. Ultimately, she realizes that she probably would have stayed put regardless, if only because her family wasn't wealthy enough to afford an abrupt uprooting.

Quote 3

I knew I would have to [...] return to my own cottage, silent and empty, where the only sound [...] would be the phantom echoes of my own boys' infant cries. (2.7.57)

After successfully delivering the Danielses' baby boy, Anna is struck once again by grief over the death of her children. On one level, it's comforting to see such a happy family and reconnect with her maternal side, but the experience also reminds Anna of everything she's lost. It'll take some time for that ache to go away.