Fever 1793
Encyclopedia
Fever, 1793 is a historical novel
by Laurie Halse Anderson
that was published in 2000. Set during the Philadelphia yellow fever
epidemic of 1793
, its protagonist
and narrator is a teenage girl named Matilda Cook who lives with her hardworking mother, war-fought grandfather, and their ex- slave chef, Eliza, in the apartment on top of their family coffeehouse in Philadelphia. Matilda ("Mattie") Cook is a 14 year old girl with big dreams for her family's coffeehouse. After her father's death, she hoped to build an extension to the coffeehouse, and escape the title: "Little Mattie". But when the Yellow Fever Epidemic outbreaks during the long hot summer, people flee the city or die. Matilda realizes she needs to focus on something else now: fighting for her own life and the lives of her loved ones.
At a book talk at the Elisabeth Morrow School
, Anderson revealed she was thinking of making a sequel to Fever, which would also explain what happened to Grandfather's parrot, King George (who is the parrot that appeared in Forge).
Laurie Halse Anderson
She was born in 1961 in Potsdam, New York. She was inspired to write this because she loves the name Matilda.
She is also the author of Chains, which follows the story of a slave during the American Revolution. In a book talk at the Elisabeth Morrow School, Anderson revealed Fever 1793 takes place in the same universe as the Chains series. Anderson is also the author of Wintergirls
, which is about an anorexic teen trying to get over the death of her former best friend.
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is an American author who writes for children and young adults.-Career:...
that was published in 2000. Set during the Philadelphia yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic of 1793
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 is believed to have killed several thousand people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.-Beginnings:...
, its protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
and narrator is a teenage girl named Matilda Cook who lives with her hardworking mother, war-fought grandfather, and their ex- slave chef, Eliza, in the apartment on top of their family coffeehouse in Philadelphia. Matilda ("Mattie") Cook is a 14 year old girl with big dreams for her family's coffeehouse. After her father's death, she hoped to build an extension to the coffeehouse, and escape the title: "Little Mattie". But when the Yellow Fever Epidemic outbreaks during the long hot summer, people flee the city or die. Matilda realizes she needs to focus on something else now: fighting for her own life and the lives of her loved ones.
At a book talk at the Elisabeth Morrow School
Elisabeth Morrow School
The Elisabeth Morrow School is a private coeducational day school located in Englewood, New Jersey, USA, serving students age three through the grade eight. The school has a total enrollment of 462 students....
, Anderson revealed she was thinking of making a sequel to Fever, which would also explain what happened to Grandfather's parrot, King George (who is the parrot that appeared in Forge).
Characters
- Matilda - A helpful 14 year old girl who attempts to do as much work as possible to make her family business be the best in Philadelphia , but finds that difficult as the fever rages through the town.
- Matilda's Mother/Lucille Cook - A hardworking woman who labors endlessly at the coffeehouse, right where she belongs. She is the mother of Matilda. She has a slightly fiesty personality considering that her husband dies shortly after marriage. She becomes ill with yellow fever on September 2, 1793.
- Grandfather/Captain William Farnsworth Cook - Matilda's paternal grandfather, who fought with Washington in the American Revolution. Tough, but generous with a sweet disposition.
- Eliza - African American woman who was once a slave, whose deceased husband bought her freedom. Works in the coffeehouse as the chef but retires to her brother's house at the end of each day.
- Nathaniel Benson - Matilda's friend and the painter's apprentice. ( Keeps talking about catching a balloon rise [important in the story] )
- Polly - Matilda's childhood friend and one of the first to die of the fever. ( Mother's servant )
- Nell - A little girl Matilda looks after, after finding her alone in an abandoned house.
Plot
Matilda lives with her mother and helps around the thriving coffeehouse without her father, who died earlier from falling off of a ladder and breaking his neck. Yellow Fever is spreading through Philadelphia, and one by one the people close to Matilda are leaving her, dying. First, many of her neighbors are infected, then her childhood friends, including Polly, their serving girl, then her mother. She is forced to flee to a family friend's home in the country with her grandfather where there is fresh air and a lesser of a chance to catch the fever. They get left behind by the people they were riding with because of guards patrolling the path, ( keeping the sick out of other cities, believed that her grandfather had the fever because he was coughing. ) While Matilda is trying to keep her grandfather alive, she falls ill with the fever. She is carried to a makeshift hospital by her grandfather and kept there for a few weeks in recovery. When they return to their house, they discover it was robbed by theives. That night, men broke in while Matilda was sleeping. She had screamed, which woke her grandfather up. Grandfather tries to save Mattie, and ends up being killed by one of the robbers. After this, Matilda is desperate. She wanders searching for her previous caretaker, Eliza, and along the way, finds Nell, a fever orphan. Matilda later finally meets Eliza, and recuperates with their family after awhile. One day, Eliza's two nephews and Nell are infected with yellow fever. They bring the children to the Cook Coffeehouse, ( since it is farther away from the river where fever is strongest ) and all medicines seem to have no good results. Luckily, at the worst of the condition, the children were saved by the frost, which destroyed the mosquitos which caused the pestilence. Matilda decides to take up a new job, as owner of the coffeehouse with Eliza, and life returns to normal in Philadelphia, She meets up with her crush, Nathaniel Benson and Mother returns home.Laurie Halse AndersonLaurie Halse AndersonLaurie Halse Anderson is an American author who writes for children and young adults.-Career:...
She was born in 1961 in Potsdam, New York. She was inspired to write this because she loves the name Matilda.She is also the author of Chains, which follows the story of a slave during the American Revolution. In a book talk at the Elisabeth Morrow School, Anderson revealed Fever 1793 takes place in the same universe as the Chains series. Anderson is also the author of Wintergirls
Wintergirls
Wintergirls is a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. It follows the story of Lia, an eighteen-year-old girl dealing anorexia nervosa. The novel opens with the news that Lia's ex-best-friend Cassie, who was both anorexic and bulimic, has died under mysterious circumstance...
, which is about an anorexic teen trying to get over the death of her former best friend.