Author: Mary Beth Keane
ISBN: 978-1-4711-297-3
RRP: $$24.99
Mary Beth Keane has chosen a well known historical figure as the central figure of her latest novel, an historical figure whom I feel I should be much more familiar with – history was clearly not my strong point at school, and even now I don’t keep up with what’s going on in the world.
Mary Mallon, also referred to as Typhoid Mary, lived in the early part of the 20th Century in New York after emigrating from Ireland as a teenager. She started her career as a laundress and worked her way up to cooking for some very wealthy families, where she unknowingly spread Typhoid Fever. Apparently her story is quite widely known, unfortunately my history knowledge is limited. Keane has brought her into the limelight and inspired me to want to go and find out Mary’s story, to discover the facts of Mary Mallon’s life.
Keane’s descriptions of New York in the first years of the 20th Century made me wonder how so many people survived. There was garbage and manure piled in the streets and hygiene standards were certainly not what they are today. The fact that there was so much disease is definitely not a surprise, and that is something that Keane takes great pains to point out.
Fever is Mary’s story, there’s no doubt about that. Keane has given us a detailed self-portrait of Mary told in the third person. We get a look inside her mind and her heart. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a fictionalised self-portrait though its meticulous research shines through. It is a very realistic and believable self-portrait and for the majority of the novel I sympathised with Mary completely, there were times that she tested the limits of that sympathy but throughout it all I couldn’t help but feel for her.
Mary was the first person in America to be identified as a healthy carrier of Typhoid fever so it is more than plausible for an uneducated Irish cook to be unable to grasp the fact that she was passing on a disease she had never had. Having said that, I found that there were passages that I thought were almost hints from much earlier on that may have given some idea – but even so, I am moving to those conclusions from a 21st Century standpoint where we understand a lot more about germs, disease and their spread.
Keane’s writing style is engaging and kept me involved, I wanted to know how this story unfolded – even when I knew something was going to happen that I just didn’t want to read about. Drawn through Keane’s eyes, I don’t think Mary really grasped the extent of her choices as she made them, but hindsight painted things in a different light for her and that’s something we have all had to deal with at times. Hence the old saying, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
This was a very interesting read which involved me enough to want to do some research about the real Mary Mallon. I felt that Keane could have captured the real Mary because she has written her story so well, and in a way that leaves great doubt as to whether any of her actions were undertaken with malice or a clear understanding of the risks at the time she took the action. On reflection at the end of her life we can plainly see her begin to see the entire situation in a different light, but by that time it is way too late.
There is so much in this book that will appeal to more than just the lovers of history, or those interested in the beginnings of sanitation, disease control, New York. I would recommend it to anyone really.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
What a wonderfully insightful look at what life would have been like in New York city in the early 1900’s.
When I first received this book I had certainly heard the name Typhoid Mary, but had no idea of how it came about. This book although fictionalised, shows how it really could have been for poor Mary.
So, the book is written around Mary Mallon, whom is an immigrant from Ireland. She came out on a boat from Ireland to New York city with the hope of a new and exciting life. She starts out as a laundress to make money but really has hopes of being a cook. She meets a man called Alfred, with whom she falls madly and deeply in love with, even though he will not propose marriage. They move in together and Alfred ends up with a heavy drinking problem, but Mary does all she can to maintain the household whilst holding down a job.
Mary through sheer luck gets her dream job of being a cook for a family and is seemingly happy. She makes wonderful food and thoroughly enjoys what she is doing. Alfred occasionally gets a job and things are pretty good for Mary and she loves the rooms that she rents with him, life is pretty good.
After working for a few different families cooking, Mary is saddened that “the fever” strikes a lot of people. Thankfully she never gets it and is always able to help look after those that are struck down with it.
The years go on and Mary continues to move on from family to family to cook and is only a little surprised at how many people get the fever. Seeing as there is so much filth, dead carcasses and dog shit on the streets of New York, Mary thinks its no wonder there are not more illnesses.
At her next job Mary is accosted by a Dr Soper, claiming that she is a carrier of Typhoid and she cant understand that, as she has never been sick. Mary is able to send him away without having her bosses find out what he is claiming.
Unfortunately the next time Mary is taken by force to the local hospital and told that they need to keep her for testing and will possibly have to cut her open, as they think it is an organ carrying the disease.
From here Mary ends up on North Brother island where she is quarantined, unable to leave until they can decide how she is spreading the disease. This lasts for five years, until Mary is told that she is free to leave as long as she checks in regularly for testing and absolutely does not cook for anyone. Mary has also found out that Alfred has moved on and got engaged to someone else, really to me it sounds, to save his own skin, so that he has a roof over his head and food on the table.
Mary still does not understand the severity of passing on Typhoid through cooking and ends up cooking again. Alfred leaves the woman he is engaged to but ends up in an accident where he is badly burned. He has to take pain medication and in those days that was morphine and heroin. So eventually Alfred ends up a drug addict.
Poor Mary takes him back and they get their own rooms again, however, Mary ends up working to pay for his drug habit. Mary eventually ends up cooking on a large scale for a birthing hospital, and the pay is good, so she can really help Alfred, until one day she gets home and Alfred is dead.
Next thing there is a breakout of the fever at the hospital and who turns up, but Dr Soper and poor Mary is sent back to North Brother Island for the rest of her years.
I could nearly have cried for the life that Mary had, and how she just kept getting kicked down. Personally I think her life was a misery, but she always tried to see the brighter side.
It was a very sad end to a very sad life.
I had a great time reading Fever. A very hard book to put down. Each chapter focused on a different aspect of Mary’s life. Even though I knew what Mary’s fate would be, the storyline was certainly not predictable. I cringed when Mary and Mrs O’Malley slaughtered the pig, I was bewildered when Alfred declared his love for another woman and I cried when Alfred passed away. I was mad that Mary kept cooking after discovering she was killing people. However, I felt sympathy for her because all she wanted to do was cook. I was mad and sad at the same time.Something so simple, yet so fatal.
Mary spent the first half of her life caring for other people and never got the chance to have her own family. I secretly hoped that Mary would fall in love with John Cane, the caretaker on North Brother.
After reading how tough life was back in the early 20th century, with jobs being so manual and arduous, it made me appreciate how easy we have it in the 21st century.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading Fever. This is the first novel I have read in many years. I’m now looking forward to reading another book by Mary Beth Keane.
Thank you Beauty & Lace and Simon & Schuster for giving me the chance to review Fever for you.
What an emotionally captivating story, i began reading thinking that i had no knowledge of the “Typhoid Mary” story but once i was a third of the way through i felt like i may have seen a movie based on Marys story before.
This was an easy to read, captivating book, i had it finished within 2 days.
My feelings towards Mary changed numerous times through the book, i felt sorry for her, pittied her, angered by her and she shocked me towards the end, but overall i had to admire her courage through it all.
Mary Beth Keane set the scene really well, it was easy to picture Mary’s surroundings and how life was back in the early 1900’s and how hard you had to work if you wanted to live a somewhat secure and comfortable life.
I thoroughly enjoyed Fever and highly recommend it, if you have no knowledge of the Typhoid Mary story it will open your eyes to a situation that you couldnt comprehend, if you are familiar with Marys story this will give you an informative yet emotional account of her sad life.
I really enjoyed this novel. I knew the story of Typhoid Mary in outline only – that she was a carrier of the disease but immune herself, and was quarantined for the rest of her life on an island – and was really interested to find out more. I know this was fictionalised, but assume the basic facts were correct. I’m not going to summarise the story, because a number of readers have already done that.
It was a really fascinating book, both as a novel and as a historical record. The author did a great job of making Mary a realistic and empathetic character. I really understood her bewilderment and rage, and her actions were entirely understandable. The historical environment – not that long ago, really – was well drawn in a way that helped to illuminate her behaviour. I imagine most of the emotional aspects of the novel were pure fiction, but they chimed well with the facts and I bet they weren’t too far away from the reality. In that time and place, Mary was pretty helpless against a male doctor and a male system that were biased against her; I would have wanted to bop someone if I was in her place. Although she was clearly a danger to others, you finish this novel feeling that a great injustice was done to her along the way.
This novel took a shadowy historical figure and made her real, and interesting, and lively. It cast an interesting light on the general attitudes and behaviours of the time. And it was a really good read; it caught me up and kept me involved. It was fast paced and didn’t let the documentary aspect slow down a truly good story. I enjoyed this immensely and would recommend it to others. I’ve already passed it on to my husband, because it’s a novel that should appeal to a male audience as well.
Thank you Beauty & Lace and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I felt the author Mary Beth Keane very successfully created an image of the early twentieth century and the way of life of a lower class immigrant woman . I have been to New York and visited some old tenement buildings on the Lower East side of Manhattan and could almost imagine I was really there.
I alternated between feeling sorry and frustrated for Mary for her life and the way in which she was treated, and at other times feeling quite angry at her stubbornness and lack of insight into the situation, and thinking surely she must have realised somewhere deep inside herself that all those typhoid deaths may not have been coincidence.
I found the relationship between Mary and Alfred frustrating. I got the impression that Mary put a lot more into it that Alfred did. Perhaps Alfred really did love Mary but he seemed like quite a weak man. Did Mary have such low self esteem that she didn’t think she could have done better? Was having Alfred better than having no one at all?
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Mary Beth Keane does a great job of taking a real person from history and bringing her story to life for us. I’ll be happy to pass it on to others to read.
Fever gives an interesting account of the life of Typhoid Mary, from her initial conviction to the resolution of her case. The book should almost be subtitled “adventures in denial” – ignorance and poor education aside, Mary really does not want to acknowledge what is in front of her own nose, not just with respect to her illness but also in her personal life. The book gives an excellent account of the circumstances surrounding her discovery, diagnosis and isolation, and it is fascinating to see how her case was managed. The author has obviously done her research and the facts of the case are well documented, however, when creating a fiction account of a factual occurrence some poetic licence can be taken – and I wish she had taken so much more. The entire story feels glossed over and parts of the story feel very rushed. She skims frustratingly fleetingly over Mary’s young life in Ireland, and delves little into the lives of those around her. I would have loved a glimpse into the personal lives and opinions of the doctors and health workers who were instrumental in having her quarantined; I was interested in her partner but we never really got to know him on more than a superficial level; and most of all, I would have loved to have grown up with Mary – learned about her childhood and early life. If I had known her more personally, she may have been more of a sympathetic character rather than a frustratingly ignorant one. Is the book worth reading? Absolutely, I found it deeply interesting – it just left me wanting more.
Mary Beth Keane has done a wonderful job creating the book Fever, transporting the reader into the life of a woman known throughout the news as Typhoid Mary. Fever walks you through the battles Mary Mallon had to face and the decisions she had to make, you feel what she felt in that very moment in time. But, at the end of the day was Mary Mallon a true killer or was she scared and confused? Beautifully written and based on a true story, Fever is a book I enjoyed reading and would recommend to others. It was a book I didn’t want to put down and when I had to, I would find myself thinking about it or talking about the story with others. I would not be surprised if there is a movie made, inspired by Fever. I just love the style of the author Mary Beth Keane so I will be keeping an eye out for more of her books in the future!
Thank you to both Beauty & Lace and Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read a copy of Fever, this is a fantastic book! I give it a 5 out of 5.
Finally finished this book a few weeks back and it was absolutely awesome! Highly recommended!