Wickett's Remedy

Description

In a multidimensional, intricately wrought narrative, Myla Goldberg leads us back to Boston in the early part of the twentieth century and into two completely captivating worlds. One is that of Lydia, an Irish American shopgirl with bigger aspirations than your average young woman from South Boston. She seems to be well on her way to the life she has dreamed of when she marries Henry Wickett, a shy medical student and the scion of a Boston Brahmin family. However, soon after their wedding, Henry abruptly quits medical school to create a mail-order patent medicine called Wickett’s Remedy, and just as Lydia begins to adjust to her husband’s new vocation, the infamous Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 begins its deadly sweep across the world, irrevocably changing their lives. In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic—through the use of human subjects. Meanwhile, a parallel narrative explores the world of QD Soda, the illegitimate offspring of Wickett’s Remedy, stolen away by Henry Wickett’s one-time business partner Quentin Driscoll, who goes about transforming it into a soft drink empire. Throughout the novel we hear from a chorus of other voices who offer a running commentary from the book’s margins, playing off the ongoing narrative and cleverly illuminating the slippery interplay of perception and memory. Based on years of research and evoking actual events, Wickett’s Remedy perfectly captures the texture of the times and brings a colorful cast of characters vividly to life—none more so than Lydia, a heroine as winning and appealing as Eliza, the beloved spelling champion of Bee Season. With dazzling dexterity, Goldberg has fashioned a novel that beautifully combines the intimate and the epic. Wickett’s Remedy announces her arrival as a major novelist.

Description

Lydia Kilkenny is eager to move beyond her South Boston childhood, and when she marries Henry Wickett, a shy Boston Brahmin who plans to become a doctor, her future seems assured. That path changes when Henry abandons his medical studies and enlists Lydia to help him invent a mail-order medicine called Wickett's Remedy. Then the 1918 influenza epidemic sweeps through Boston, and in a world turned upside down Lydia must forge her own path through the tragedy unfolding around her. As she secures work as a nurse at a curious island medical station conducting human research into the disease, Henry's former business partner steals the formula for Wickett's Remedy to create for himself a new future, trying--and almost succeeding--to erase the past he is leaving behind. Alive with narrative ingenuity, and tinged with humor as well as sorrow, this inspired recreation of a forgotten era powerfully reminds us how much individual voices matter--in history and in life. (back cover)

Subjects

Other Editions

• Wickett's Remedy: A NovelPaperbackAnchor Books2006-10-01
• Wickett's remedyDoubleday2004-01-01
• Wickett's remedyDoubleday2005-01-01
• Wickett's RemedyRandom House Large Print2005-09-20
• Wickett's RemedyDoubleday2005-09-20
• Wickett's RemedyAudio CDRH Audio2005-09-20