Year of Wonders Lesson Plan

What reasons are presented in the novel for the spread of the Plague in the village? Based on your research, how historically accurate is this?

In the novel, Mr. Hadfield receives a shipment of fabrics from London. The parcel arrives damp and Mr. Hadfield asks George Viccars to see to its drying. George hangs the fabric to dry around Anna's cottage. It could be that the fabrics came tainted from London where the Black Plague is already spreading. George is the first to die of the disease and he indeed warns Anna that he knows "the signs of this wretched illness" and in his delirious state, warns her to burn everything. Anna is not able to convince his customers to burn...