It is the summer of 1793, a very hot oppressive August, and Matilda Cook has heard the first rumors of a killing fever which has taken up residency in Philadelphia. The fever seems far away from their little coffeehouse run by her widowed mother on Seventh Street, until their little maid Polly is struck down, dying in only a matter of hours. Mattie cannot realize that her childhood friend is truly dead while the coffee house operates much as usual with her grandfather Captain William Farnsworth Cook and his friends arguing away the days in pleasant conversation with each other.
But it has begun. The dreadful epidemic claims over ten percent of the population before it is through, sweeping over young America's first capitol of Philadelphia and impacting virtually every family with it's deadly touch.
Laurie Halse Anderson spins a gripping tail of a tragedy that strives to trap Matila in it's web, threatening everyone and everything that she holds dear. She must reach deep inside herself, past the child that was, to the maturing young woman who can find strength to save herself and her family from the invisible killer which is attacking the populace of Philadelphia.
Winner of six national awards and nineteen state awards, Fever 1793 is the perfect combination of fictional story built on historical fact, a great find for your avid historical fiction reader or anyone who likes a thrilling story. You can check it out locally from the Gail Borden, Batavia, Bartlett, Schaumburg, and Poplar Creek libraries, or you can drop by Laurie Anderson's website to read an excerpt or look at her other books.
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