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Fever,
1793
by
Laurie Anderson
For
fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook, the epidemic begins with the news of the sudden
and unexpected death of her childhood friend Polly. It is summer 1793, and
yellow fever is sweeping through the young nation's
capital at Philadelphia.
Mattie, her mother, and grandfather run a coffeehouse on High Street, and
when others flee the city, they choose to stay---until Mattie's mother is
stricken. Sent away by her mother to escape contagion, Mattie tries to leave,
but is turned back by quarantine officers. Mattie falls to the fever along the way, and after the girl recovers in a
makeshift hospital, they return home to find the premises deserted and the city
in chaos.
The story describes Mattie’s physical and emotional struggles to
survive among all the hardships of the epidemic.
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