Tuesday, July 2, 2013

"Fever" by Mary Beth Keane

"Fever" by Mary Beth Keane  


This was a compelling well written book about Typhoid Mary the first known asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever written in the form of a novel. I am sure it is based on a lot of research and the actual facts about this unfortunate Irish immigrant. The author gives a great picture of Mary and brings her trials and difficulties to life .
Mary comes to New York as a young girl in early 1900 and eventually becomes a great cook working in very upscale houses. She leaves behind a trail of disease and death wherever she goes without knowing she is doing so. When confronted with this by the public health authorities Mary will not accept the truth and is taken by the pubic health authorities and placed on North Brother Island in the middle of the East River in New York. She is kept there for over 2 decades all the time fighting for her just rights. On the island there is a hospital that treats all kinds of contageous diseases. She is given her own cottage to live in but all she wants to do is to get back to her own life and to cook. This she is forbidden to do.
The book is great to read although I felt lots of sympathy for Mary but it gives a good social commentary of those times.
Shiortly after reading the book I saw this site http://imgur.com/gallery/J7sv8/new which featured North Brother Island which had been abandoned for years and is a now a bird sanctuary. You can see a photo on the site of Mary's cottage.


1 comment:

  1. Just read about Typhoid fever, never thought about it before, Poor Mary but what could the health folk do?
    Scary stuff, especially that those spreading the decease are not aware of it!
    John

    ReplyDelete