Fever 1793
Fever 1793 is a historic fiction book by Laurie Halse Anderson, author of "Chains" and "Speak". Fever 1973 is set in Philadelphia, during the summer of 1793.
The main character in this book is a sixteen-year-old girl named Matilda Cook, or Mattie. Mattie lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie is lazy and spends her days avoiding chores and daydreaming about making the small family business bigger and better. But then the fever breaks out.
What starts an a small worry quickly becomes a raging epidemic, as yellow fever sweeps the streets, killing everyone in its path. Mattie's world is turned upside down as her mother falls very sick, and Mattie is forced to flee the city with her grandfather. But there is no way to escape the sickness, and Mattie must learn to be persistent, self reliant, and most of all strong, in order to survive.
I recommend this book. This book is a little bit slow starting, but it quickly picks up the pace. It is a great look into what life was like back then. The plot is very captivating and the characters are engaging. Overall a very well written book.
