Deadly by Julie Chibbaro

Title: Deadly
Author: Julie Chibbaro
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: Febuaray 22, 2011
Recieved: Simon and Schuster Galley Grab

Summary:  A mysterious outbreak of typhoid fever is sweeping New York.

Could the city’s future rest with its most unlikely scientist?
 
If Prudence Galewski is ever going to get out of Mrs. Browning’s esteemed School for Girls, she must demonstrate her refinement and charm by securing a job appropriate for a young lady. But Prudence isn’t like the other girls. She is fascinated by how the human body works and why it fails.
 
With a stroke of luck, she lands a position in a laboratory, where she is swept into an investigation of the fever bound to change medical history. Prudence quickly learns that an inquiry of this proportion is not confined to the lab. From ritzy mansions to shady bars and rundown tenements, she explores every potential cause of the disease. But there’s no answer in sight—until the volatile Mary Mallon emerges. Dubbed “Typhoid Mary” by the press, Mary is an Irish immigrant who has worked as a cook in every home the fever has ravaged. Strangely, though, she hasn’t been sick a day in her life. Is the accusation against her an act of discrimination? Or is she the first clue in a new scientific discovery?
 
Prudence is determined to find out. In a time when science is for men, she’ll have to prove to the city, and to herself, that she can help solve one of the greatest medical mysteries of the twentieth century.

Review: I was not expecting Deadly to be like it was. It focused on more of the science and the day to day life of Prudence who was working on the "Typhoid Mary" mystery. I was actually expecting more mystery and a more currentish sounding book, but that isn't what I got and for once I was very glad I read something I wasn't expecting. (That sounded terrible, sorry!)

Because Deadly was an very good book that I enjoyed a lot! I really liked reading Prudence's diary entries, this is how the story was told, even though you don't get to know everything that is happening and all the details that come with having a "regular" perspective. But I still liked them, they were a good change.

I loved how Prudence was so interested in science, because when in a time like hers the world of jobs was a very sexist place and it still is. And she had such determination and that was quite admirable. Prudence was quite the role model.

But at the same time she was just as vulnerable and as traumatized by her emotions as many girls are today.

Deadly is a entirely interesting historical fiction novel that highlights one of the world's struggles in the field of science, but also has very relatable characters that relate very positive messages

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