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Mary, Mary, quite contrary - how does the typhoid go?
deadly was almost a no-go for me, but it starts to get interesting after the first couple of chapters - it's when Prudence gets a job at the Department of Health and Sanitation that the story really picks up some steam. Before then, we had to endure the trials of finishing school where girls either learn to be housewives or governesses or some other seemingly unexciting things. Prudence never fits in that mold, and she has the luck of landing a secretary joy with the perks of also being assistant to the head epidemiologist. Call me nerd or dork or obsessed health nut, but I really appreciated deadly's focus on typhoid, particularly the story about Typhoid Mary, when we were first understanding how infection actually worked. Those were exciting times - and I tend to forget that as textbooks give you the dry facts without the emotions that surely coursed through the scientists. deadly is an excellent historical read with a narrator who will surely infect you with the same fascination that she experiences while on the edge of discovering the source of the typhoid epidemic. It was startling to see the various reactions when fingers get pointed at Mary - the servants and Irish immigrants who want to protect their own, the infected families who only see a healthy cook who is able to nurse them back to health, the Department who want to locate and isolate the source of infection, and Prudence's inner turmoil of how the accusations will affect an actual human's life. I'm not sure what to make of the ending. Although I am really pleased with how Prudence turned out, the ending seemed a little too wishy-washy and I wish it provided a little more resolution to what happens to Typhoid Mary, Prudence, and the rest of the characters involved .
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Anonymous
Posted April 1, 2013
No text was provided for this review.
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