Fever: A Novel

A well written fiction novel based on a true life woman named Mary Mallon. It draws you in to Mary's life as an immigrant in New York City. Mary is a strong, determined, proud woman. But, she doesn't understand how she can carry a disease when she hasn't been sick. You'll feel her moral struggle vs the need to survive. Definitely worth reading.

While this is a well written and fascinating historical novel about Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, something is missing. And that something is a sympathetic protagonist. As portrayed in this book by Mary Beth Keane, Mary Mallon was a meanspirited, resentful, hostile, and bitter woman who was prone to anger-fueled rages. I wanted to quickly finish the book just so I could get away from her acrimonious personality.And that is saying something because this book is a historical novel lover's delight. It is filled with detailed descriptions of early 20th century New York City—from the piles of stinking garbage on the sidewalks to the stunning rise of the first skyscrapers to the taste of wonderful and complex foods to the sounds of clopping horses on cobblestones. But then there is Mary…and her spiteful and callous disposition.Orphaned at a young age, Mary Mallon emigrated from Ireland to New York City in 1884 at age 15, finding work as a laundress and later a cook for wealthy families. As she moved to different jobs in different houses, she left tragedy in her wake. Several dozen of the people for whom she cooked contracted typhoid fever and a few died—enough of them that it attracted the attention of health authorities, who determined that she was a healthy carrier of the dreaded disease. She was quarantined against her will for five years and then allowed free if she promised to never again cook for other people. Ah, promises, promises! Before too long, Mary was behind a stove and yielding a spatula in a bakery and then a maternity hospital. Even though it often fell to Mary to nurse those who fell sick in the homes in which she worked, she steadfastly refused to believe she was ever at fault.All of that is historical fact. In this novel, Keane has successfully imprinted a personality—a full life—upon Mary Mallon. Unfortunately, what could have been intriguing and captivating, is spoiled by the vindictive, virulent personality of the main character, which appears from my limited research on the topic to be a fairly accurate portrayal of the woman. Still, it's hard to enjoy a book when you can't like the protagonist even a little bit.

I knew that Typhoid Mary was a real person, who'd unknowingly infected people with Typhoid Fever, and that after she agreed not to continue working as a cook she did so anyway. ...And that is ALL I knew. Mary Beth Keane's book gives life to Mary Mallon's story.Mary came to the US from Ireland, and she was brave, strong, proud, and determined. She was a talented cook, and that was part of the problem. As we now know, Mary was an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid. She worked her way up the servant scale from a laundress to a cook, and as she worked for families she left a trail of illness and death.Mary was in denial about carrying Typhoid. She had never, to her recollection, been sick with Typhoid, and in fact was never sick at all, she was gleaming with health her whole life. She had special abilities as a cook, and as anyone would, she wanted to exercise her skills. She got lots of praise and respect as a cook. In addition, a job as a cook paid THREE TIMES what a laundress job paid. So it's impossible to blame Mary for wanting to continue on as a cook.When the doctors decided that Mary was a carrier, they literally kidnapped her and hospitalized her, then locked her on an island normally used to isolate people who had diseases like leprosy. Unsurprisingly, this did not make her want to cooperate! She didn't understand the science behind what they were saying—and to be fair, they had a lot of it wrong too. For awhile, they were convinced that she stored Typhoid in her gall bladder, and they tried to force her to let them remove it. She refused, and later they admitted that theory was wrong. So again, it's difficult to blame Mary for not understanding or wanting to work with the doctors to resolve the issue.And yet—Mary was the equivalent of a loaded weapon. She killed people, albeit indirectly through ignorance and negligence. So of course she couldn't be just let alone, to continue infecting people and taking lives.From the perspective of time, when we understand the science better, and we know the historical outcome, it seems that they might have made more progress by reasoning with Mary, or perhaps even by simply paying her the the wages she would have made as a cook and not putting her in a position where she was tempted to break her parole in order to work in the kitchen for the money.Although this book is historical fiction, and obviously Mary's thoughts and conversations are guessed at, the broad outlines of the facts that we know are accurate, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

I didn't really know before reading this book that Typhoid Mary was a real person. I can't believe she was locked up all those years. She had a very hard life and I'm not sure even after reading this account of her life, even though its a work of fiction that she was ever really guilty of anything. After all her tests came back negative.

We've all heard of typhoid Mary but to really see her as a real person even though its partly fiction is so interesting.

I know this is a novel but the author has done a lot of research on the period and Mary Mallon, alias Typhoid Mary. I grew up knowing about Mary but never knowing much beyond the basics. I enjoyed the read, the descriptions of life at times and Mary's story. Thank you

The book was a good read as I was interested in finding out about the woman known as 'typhoid Mary'.Mary was a good hard working woman from Ireland who went to work in America as a cook. Very good at her work but unfortunately for her, a carrier of the dreaded typhoid!I felt a lot of sympathy for her, especially when being pursued relentlessly by a man from the health department, and for the time she was quarantined on an island. (She also did not have such a happy personal life either.)However, although she may have not realised at first, I found it hard to believe she kept returning to work concerned with the preparation of food - she surely should have eventually realised, after so many she had been employed by, died after eating the food prepared by her ( including, sadly, some young children). For this reason, she lost some of my sympathy. However, she did not lead a very happy life at all. Its a good read -at times a bit repetitive.

Fictional account of the life of Mary Mallon, known throughout history as Typhoid Mary. The authorities believed she was sick, that she was passing typhoid fever from her hands to the food that she served but Mary shows no signs of illness, although the people around her keep dieing.Diagnosed as an symptomatic carrier of the disease, the lack of symptoms means Mary struggled to accept responsibility for the outbreaks of typhoid fever around her. Mary is subsequently quarantined, unfairly she belives but later allowed to return to the city, provided that she gives an undertaking not to cook for anyone, and to regularly wash her hands. However, before long Mary returns to what she knows best, cooking and baking.Was Mary a monster or a hounded innocent, a victim or a villan? Were her actions careless or criminal?

The historical setting was fascinating and very cleverly done. I had heard of Typhoid Mary and this novel really brought her to life. The author makes her into a fascinating character, both admirable for her fortitude and talent and absolutely infuriating in her inability to face up to the truth about being the carrier of infection and her relationship with her lover. What really exasperated me about her was the way she kept returning to her lover, which is so typical of an abusive relationship. She must have been very difficult to deal with but the novel made me really feel for her.

I couldn’t put it down, I’m exhausted! It was brilliantly written I felt like I had a past life as an Irish person in filthy 1900’s New York City...I’m resting until Mary Beths next book is out