Book of the Week: The Great Trouble, by Deborah Hopkinson

The Great Trouble, Deborah Hopkinson
Historical fiction/Mystery

London in 1854 had some things in common with today’s London. For centuries, London has been the center of the English-speaking world: full of business and science and fashion, with crowded streets and lots of culture and excitement.

Of course, there are differences, too. In today’s London, you won’t see teenaged boys fishing trash out of the river just to pay for food. And you definitely won’t get cholera – a highly contagious, incredibly deadly disease that’s been mostly eradicated in developed countries.

Back in 1854, Eel is unlucky on all counts: ever since his parents died he’s had to work to support himself and his little brother, and he happens to live on Broad Street, the center of one of London’s worst cholera outbreaks. On the bright side, he works for John Snow, a physician who has a lot of theories about how to stop the spread of this deadly epidemic. Eel will have to help him solve this medical mystery if he wants to save his brother, his best friend, and his neighborhood – and if Dr. Snow’s theories are right, they’ll go down in history as the men who learned the truth about this once-mysterious disease.
Historical fiction/Mystery

London in 1854 had some things in common with today’s London. For centuries, London has been the center of the English-speaking world: full of business and science and fashion, with crowded streets and lots of culture and excitement.

Of course, there are differences, too. In today’s London, you won’t see teenaged boys fishing trash out of the river just to pay for food. And you definitely won’t get cholera – a highly contagious, incredibly deadly disease that’s been mostly eradicated in developed countries.

Back in 1854, Eel is unlucky on all counts: ever since his parents died he’s had to work to support himself and his little brother, and he happens to live on Broad Street, the center of one of London’s worst cholera outbreaks. On the bright side, he works for John Snow, a physician who has a lot of theories about how to stop the spread of this deadly epidemic. Eel will have to help him solve this medical mystery if he wants to save his brother, his best friend, and his neighborhood – and if Dr. Snow’s theories are right, they’ll go down in history as the men who learned the truth about this once-mysterious disease.

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