"Mary Beth Keane, "named one of the "5 Under 35 "by the National
Book Foundation, has written a spectacularly bold and intriguing
novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first person in
America identified as a healthy carrier of Typhoid Fever.
On the eve of the twentieth century, Mary Mallon emigrated from
Ireland at age fifteen to make her way in New York City. Brave,
headstrong, and dreaming of being a cook, she fought to climb up
from the lowest rung of the domestic-service ladder. Canny and
enterprising, she worked her way to the kitchen, and discovered in
herself the true talent of a chef. Sought after by New York
aristocracy, and with an independence rare for a woman of the time,
she seemed to have achieved the life she'd aimed for when she
arrived in Castle Garden. Then one determined "medical engineer"
noticed that she left a trail of disease wherever she cooked, and
identified her as an "asymptomatic carrier" of Typhoid Fever. With
this seemingly preposterous theory, he made Mallon a hunted woman.
The Department of Health sent Mallon to North Brother Island, where
she was kept in isolation from 1907 to 1910, then released under
the condition that she never work as a cook again. Yet for
Mary--proud of her former status and passionate about cooking--the
alternatives were abhorrent. She defied the edict.
Bringing early-twentieth-century New York alive--the neighborhoods,
the bars, the park carved out of upper Manhattan, the boat traffic,
the mansions and sweatshops and emerging skyscrapers--"Fever "is an
ambitious retelling of a forgotten life. In the imagination of Mary
Beth Keane, Mary Mallon becomes a fiercely compelling, dramatic,
vexing, sympathetic, uncompromising, and unforgettable heroine.
General
Imprint: |
Scribner Book Company
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
March 2014 |
First published: |
March 2014 |
Authors: |
Mary Beth Keane
|
Dimensions: |
201 x 132 x 20mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
336 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4516-9342-3 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
1-4516-9342-7 |
Barcode: |
9781451693423 |
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