I had to keep reminding myself that this is a fictionalised self-portrait though its meticulous research shines through. We get a look inside her mind and her heart. Keane has given us a detailed self-portrait of Mary told in the third person. The fact that there was so much disease is definitely not a surprise, and that is something that Keane takes great pains to point out.įever is Mary’s story, there’s no doubt about that. There was garbage and manure piled in the streets and hygiene standards were certainly not what they are today. Keane’s descriptions of New York in the first years of the 20th Century made me wonder how so many people survived. Keane has brought her into the limelight and inspired me to want to go and find out Mary’s story, to discover the facts of Mary Mallon’s life. Apparently her story is quite widely known, unfortunately my history knowledge is limited. She started her career as a laundress and worked her way up to cooking for some very wealthy families, where she unknowingly spread Typhoid Fever. Mary Mallon, also referred to as Typhoid Mary, lived in the early part of the 20th Century in New York after emigrating from Ireland as a teenager. Mary Beth Keane has chosen a well known historical figure as the central figure of her latest novel, an historical figure whom I feel I should be much more familiar with – history was clearly not my strong point at school, and even now I don’t keep up with what’s going on in the world.
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