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 … 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.
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This novel provides a detailed and thoughtful narrative of the life of Typhoid Mary. It delves into her personal relationships, employment history, and experiences as an Irish immigrant. The story of her encounters with the medical community are inevitably intertwined with all three of these aspects of her life. The author paints a very detailed picture of this woman who became infamous for decades. She also spends time describing Alfred Breihof, the man in Mary’s life, who had some very serious medical problems of his own.
Especially appropriate now, vis a vis non-symptomatic carriers.
I could not get into Mary’s character, but found the public health aspect fascinating.
Good Insight to a tragic scary time.
Excellent. The author painted a clear, vivid portrait of New York life at the turn of the century. The leading character was developed into a multi-dimensional person and tge reader was able to clearly understand her perspective of the amazing events occurring in her world and times. This will be my recommended read fpr my book club.
I knew a little about the story of Typhoid Mary, but this novel helped me think about the events from her perspective. Truly, this book deserves more attention.
Gives a realistic picture of what contagion means.
Imaginative tale of Typhoid Mary with realistic picture of life in the early 1900s. I was captivated by Mary’s personality, the limited options for an immigrant woman in a crowded and dirty New York City, and an ultimately sad story.
Did a wonderful job bringing Typhoid Mary, her world, and her times to life. It made this fascinating character real for me and I loved every minute of it.
A historical novel based on the real “typhoid Mary.” The book is much more a novel on her personal life than about her treatment as a typhoid carrier, though that is certainly covered here. I found myself thinking how terribly she was treated without any civil rights or representation. We’ve come a long way
Having heard about this historical character since I was a child made the book very interesting, but also the fictional aspects made it into a well worth reading story. The character’s case was very sad and for many it was a tough time in America’s history. The book is well worth the read!
Excellent! It gave me the opportunity to feel like how it would have been to wear the shoes of the main character, as well as how it was to be a victim. Made me want to know as much as I could about Typhoid Mary and to explore North Brothers Island to see what it looked like first hand.
Fever really makes you think – on so many levels…. Mary was a product of her environment. She had a hard life in Ireland, and came to America hoping for something better. However, something better was often out of reach due to her sex, her ethnicity, her lack of family support, whom she loved. There were so many things that impacted this strong woman’s life and actions. It was really impactful to know that she was literate and enjoyed reading, but on the other hand, she could not (or would not allow herself) to fully comprehend what was being told to her. Coping mechanism? A sign of the times? What did the common people actually know of disease in the time? This book continues to stay with me….
A different view of a infamous woman.
Honestly I read the majority of the book but became seriously bogged down by the months and years of her isolation on the plague island. This section could have been edited down to avoid repetition.
Overall a very good book. One I would readily recommend to friends.
sad, and true. Very nicely fills in the case from many points of view.
I found it hard to put this book down. It took me back in time to the early 1900’s and the author recreated that world for me powerfully, as an intrinsic part of a gripping story.
You’ll feel differently about Typhoid Mary after reading this book. Immensely readable and engaging.
A lesson: there used to be (and in some parts of the world, still are) innumerable dread diseases in the throes of which one regularly might die. For example, there was tuberculosis (aka consumption), there was yellow fever, and there was typhoid fever. Fever is the story of Typhoid Mary, the Irish cook who was the first asymptomatic typhoid fever carrier identified by U.S. health authorities.
Essentially, Mary Mallon left illness – and death – in her wake, with outbreaks at virtually (literally?) every home where she was hired. Once the authorities caught on, she was arrested and confined to Brother Island – a leper colony of one, except the leper carried typhoid. After doctors determined she was only a danger to society when she cooked, she was released with the agreement that she would never cook again. This lady loved cooking so much, though, that she couldn’t keep her promise. (I know, I don’t get it either.) You see where this is headed – more jobs, more outbreaks, until she was caught again and and sent back to Brother Island where she lived for the next 20-odd years, until she died as a rather old woman of pneumonia.
As for Fever by Mary Beth Keane. I liked it. A lot. It’s similar in style and tone to Doc (which I linked to in the first paragraph), or even to Paris Wife. My one complaint, and it’s relatively minor, is that unlike Paris Wife and Doc which seem to have been researched within an inch of their lives, it’s hard to know where fact end and fiction begins with Fever. I read an interview with Keane where she talked about her mind being piqued because of the lack of first-person accounts about the case, so I knew going in that it was more a work of fiction than the others, but still I wanted to know what degree of truth there was to Mary’s relationship with Alfred Briehof, whether she had ever worked for the Kirkenbauer family (she did work for the Bowens, another of the families mentioned in the book), and some of the other minor characters.
Keane has done a great job of building a complex and nuanced character in Mary Mallon. While the exact degree of truth versus fiction may be impossible to know, she was undoubtedly a complicated woman, probably not wishing typhoid on anyone, but certainly not taking the preventative measures necessary to prevent spreading it. I ended up feeling like she got what was coming to her, but they certainly were different times.
I should note that, having read about Hetty Green immediately before reading about Mary Mallon, I was fascinated at the contrast between Hetty Green’s New York and that of Mary Mallon. Considering those differences was very interesting.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2013/05/fever.html)