Book Synopsis:
During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.
Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.
My Review:
This was enjoyable, but not one I’m going to think about all the time. It was fast-paced and didn’t take long to read. The characters were a little flat, but I still liked them. There was a lot of emotion in this story and it taught me about a little-known, short time of history.
The writing style and flow of this book was very easy to read. I would say it’s a YA bordering on Middle Grade, both with the writing and the age of the main character, who was 14. The plot also went by fast, so it took me only about a week to read.
I’ve been reading a lot of historical fiction recently about lesser-known parts of history, and that was the case for this book, too. It was such an isolated issue, only in Philadelphia for a few months, but it was devastating for those involved. It was also not something I had ever heard about before.
Reading this book post-2020, you could make a lot of parallels to Covid-19, but I don’t think it’s really the same. We have modern medicine now and know how illnesses spread, not like they did then. It was kind of frustrating at the beginning of the book to read about people doubting the severity of the fever and blowing it off. On the other hand, I liked reading about the Good Samaritan characters who weren't afraid to help the fever victims.
None of the characters had much depth to them, but they were still enjoyable. They weren't unlikable, but they also weren't super complex, with flaws and unique quirks that made you really understand who they were. I like that the main character, Mattie, had dreams and ideas of running the business and expanding it. I would say that is the only defining trait of any of the characters. There was a pet cat who was cute, though.
Finally, even though this wasn't a Christian book, I liked that there were some Christian aspects of it throughout. God is mentioned as a source of comfort, and Mattie occasionally prays and reads the Bible. There was one specific theological thing, "the Lord helps those who help themselves," that was wrong, but I can give that a pass since this wasn't a Christian book and it wasn't meant to be an important quote.
Content:
Language: None
Sexual Content: The main character has a crush on a boy, and there is a cheek kiss, but otherwise no romance
Violence/Gore: Lots of people die from the fever, including a main character, but mostly off-screen numbers; someone vomits blood; descriptions of medical content pre-modern medicine, so not the most pleasant; mentions of draining people's blood
Drugs/Alcohol: None
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