December 2025: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson > Likes and Comments

Our December book will be Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Read anytime, discussion opens December 1st. Until then feel free to discuss anything other than the story itself. (e.g. other books by this author, topics related to it, cover art, etc.)


2000, 225 pages, 3.93 stars
$8.99 Kindle, print starts at $7.59, also at library

"It's late summer 1793, and the streets of Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, many have taken ill, and the fatalities are mounting. Now they include Polly, the serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn't get a moment to mourn the passing of her childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family's coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie's concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family's small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie's struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight—the fight to stay alive."

I'm pleased to see this offered by my library as an audiobook. will read it next! Well... "read".

Yay! I already own this book.

Me, too!

Got it downloaded to Libby and will start tonight. Hoping it's good!

I’ll probably pass on this one. Have fun y’all!!!

Almost done! I guess I started way too soon since it's on audio.

I was a bit worried because set in the past is not my favorite but I am enjoying it.

This was a good selection. I hope some people read it.

It's on the back burner until next year.

Lawrence wrote: "It's on the back burner until next year."

Good thing it’s already November!

Haha! I'm not sure how i feel about the fact it will be 2026 in just over a couple months.

Gertie wrote: "Haha! I'm not sure how i feel about the fact it will be 2026 in just over a couple months."

Time goes by fast!

Gertie wrote: "This was a good selection. I hope some people read it."

Me, too. I'm almost done.

I'm not sure why this was a selection. I'm not complaining...I read it and will save comments for later but just wondering since it doesn't seem to fit the usual criteria.

Ah... we count micro apocalypse here too. If it changes the world as you know it for a community, it still hits on many of the themes that make apocalyptic stories interesting for lots of people. For example, Under the Dome and The Wall aren't apocalypses or dystopian worlds but there is that sense of isolation and danger.

Plague is kinda classic, though in this case it was specifically Philly and also based on a reality.

I am surprised we don't have a topic on this, but here is one now, if anyone wants to discuss:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Gertie wrote: "Ah... we count micro apocalypse here too. If it changes the world as you know it for a community, it still hits on many of the themes that make apocalyptic stories interesting for lots of people. F..."

That makes sense. I was impressed by the writing but I’ll stop there so I don’t spoil anything.

I was super lucky to get this on audio through Libby, I ended up enjoying this book more than i thought i would, it was a quick read. Happy to have read it and wouldnt have ever read it if it werent for the book club.

Me too. I tend towards more current/future stories, so something set in the past was not a choice I'd go with. But also glad I read it.

Considering it is based on an actual event that is pretty interesting too — when we hear of events from long ago I think it helps us imagine what it must have been like when someone fills in some blanks for us.

I enjoyed it and feel like they did a fair job of representing the experience. Of course I am sure there was a broad variety of experiences of people then, some who fared worse, but this one worked.

Also appreciated it started before and ended after.

I liked that it started before and ended after the event, too. I also thought the Appendix, which provides facts about the event, was cool.

What did y'all think about how the author handled the potential love interest between Matilda and Nathaniel (i.e., not having it play any real role in the story)?

Another interesting part of the novel was Matilda's family, a widowed mother, a grandfather who served under George Washington (and who had a talking parrot). The burglary that happened when Matilda and her grandfather were at home was suspenseful. I also got choked up when her grandfather died.

I had company over for the last week and they just went home today. So I am starting this tonight.

I was glad they didn't focus too much on any potential romance. I think because it's not what the story was about, you know? It would have been a distraction. They did it just enough to have you wanting at least a hint of a certain outcome.

There really was a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793:

https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/con...

Yeah I looked that up when I was reading it too. I think it's helpful to understand past events by presenting them in this sort of format, as long as they don't take too many liberties.

Gertie wrote: "I was glad they didn't focus too much on any potential romance. I think because it's not what the story was about, you know? It would have been a distraction. They did it just enough to have you wa..."

I appreciated that, too. I thought it kept the focus on Matilda, which was ideal. Did anyone expect her mother to have died? I did. Also, it was neat that her family ran a coffee house. Added a dynamic and new angle to the story.

NANCY DON'T READ THIS UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE BOOK. haha!


I didn't expect her to die. Really, once gramp did I expected mom to live... I feel like the author was overall trying to accomplish some sort of balance.

I just finished. We went out of town and I didn’t get it finished before we left!

I liked it. I think people forget what it was like back then when doctors didn’t even know what germs were and how much blood they thought was in the human body (then bleeding them to death).

Yeah - I imagine it's hard sometimes for authors to portray their protagonists as intelligent when they are doing things like draining blood to help someone sick. But of course there are probably many things like that today that we don't know about too.

Nancy wrote: "I just finished. We went out of town and I didn’t get it finished before we left!

I liked it. I think people forget what it was like back then when doctors didn’t even know what germs were and how..."

Yep, it was jarring when they bled Matilda's mother. In the Appendix, the author talks about how even leading doctors often did more harm to their patients than good.

I do wish that the guy who left Matilda and her grandfather stranded on the side of the road and stole their food, clothing, etc. had gotten his comeuppance.

I was surprised the mother lived and was sad her grandpa got killed by looters.

Hi everyone! I just finished Fever 1793, and I have to say, it really stayed with me. Even though it’s often categorised for younger readers, it felt very much like an "adult" read to me because of the heavy themes and the raw way it handles a crisis.

​Why it resonated with me:
​The Atmosphere: I absolutely loved the primary source quotes at the start of each chapter. They acted like a "weather report" for the coming disaster, setting the scene perfectly and adding a layer of historical weight to Mattie’s story.
​The History: I learned so much about Philadelphia. At the time, it was the capital of the US and the most cosmopolitan city in the country, which made the sudden collapse of society even more jarring.
​The "COVID" Connection: It’s hard not to draw parallels to our recent experiences. Seeing the same human patterns - denial, the fear, the people fleeing the city, and the heroes who stayed behind to help - was eye-opening. It really brings to light how history repeats itself.
​The Fact vs. Fiction: The appendix at the end was a highlight for me. I appreciated knowing exactly where the fiction ended and the grim reality of the Yellow Fever epidemic began.

​Is it actually "Dystopian"?
​We’re reading this for our dystopian group, and it’s an interesting choice! Technically, it’s Historical Fiction, but I can see why it fits our theme. While it’s not a "made-up" dark future, it depicts a societal collapse.
​In 1793, Philadelphia became a "mini-dystopia": the government fled, the economy stopped, and the basic social contract broke down. It’s a reminder that sometimes history is just as terrifying as any sci-fi novel.

​Final Thoughts
​I came away from this feeling much more knowledgeable about the "hero" city of Philadelphia and deeply impressed by the resilience of the people who survived. It’s a sombre read, but ultimately a hopeful one about growing up in the midst of chaos

I feel like young adult is sometimes strange label. Most of it seems to be based on the age of the protagonist but I've read a lot of books that have such adult themes I am surprised they are considered YA.

The point about COVID is something that often comes to mind for me when I read any sort of pandemic book now. It's really such a different experience when you've actually gone through some aspects of a story. It certainly makes it more believable.