Fever - Hardcover

Keane, Mary Beth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1451693419 ISBN 13: 9781451693416

Publisher: Scribner, 2013

Synopsis

A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the early twentieth century--by an award-winning writer chosen as one of "5 Under 35" by the National Book Foundation.

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.

About this title

Review:

"In Mary Beth Keane's wholly absorbing, deeply moving new novel, Mallon emerges as a woman of fierce intelligence and wrongheaded conviction...Transforming a lived past into riveting fiction, Keane gives us a novel that thrums with life, and a heroine whose regrets, though entirely specific, feel utterly familiar."--Kate Tuttle "The Boston Globe "

"[Keane] paints a more sympathetic portrait than ever before...[A] fascinating story."--David Martindale "Fort Worth Star-Telegram "

"[Keane] constructs a vivid and compelling backstory for her heroine, and a wonderfully complete picture of life of New York City in the early 20th century."--Karen Croke "Westchester Journal-News "

"[An] excellent novel...Keane takes the facts and spins a probable life in such a way that one cannot help but cheer Mary on despite the knowledge that she carried potential death with her at all times. Looking back on Typhoid Mary a century later, Keane has given her the justice that eluded her during her lifetime."--Tamela McCann "Historical Novels Review (Editors' Choice) "

"In this compelling historical novel, the infamous Typhoid Mary is given great depth and humanity by the gifted Keane...A fascinating, often heartbreaking novel."--Joanne Wilkinson "Booklist (starred review) "

"[A] gripping historical novel...Mary Beth Keane gives Mary her own voice, creating a richly sympathetic and provocative portrait of the very real person behind the pariah."--Caroline Leavitt "The San Francisco Chronicle "

"Keane builds a sympathetic character...the result is that, while we occasionally forget that Mary's disease is inherently linked with her fate, we never lose sight of her as an afflicted individual."--G. Clay Whittaker "The Daily Beast "

"[Keane] is a talented storyteller, her style plain and steady, not unlike Mary's demeanor. What's most remarkable about this novel is its brilliantly visceral vision of everyday life in early-1900s New York City, a rich and detailed working-class backdrop filled with the sights, sounds and smells of tenement squalor, overcrowded apartments, unsanitary conditions, sweatshops, and streets teaming with people trying to survive...If you have an appetite for historical fiction, this novel could be infectious."--Don Oldenburg "USA Today "

"[A] tender, detailed portrayal of willed ignorance collapsing in the face of truth...A fine novel."--Patrick McGrath "The New York Times Book Review "

"An absorbing and beautifully written novel..."--Rose Solari "The Washington Independent Review of Books "

About the Author:

Mary Beth Keane attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA. She has been named one of the National Book Foundation's "5 under 35," and was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for fiction writing. She currently lives in Pearl River, New York with her husband and their two sons. She is also the author of The Walking People, Fever, and Ask Again, Yes.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1451693419
• ISBN 13: 9781451693416
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 306