Quarantine
John Smolens

Pegasus
September 5, 2012 / ISBN: 978-1605984186
Hardcover (Reviewed from the Kindle e-book)
Historical Fiction
Amazon

Reviewed by Beverly J. Rowe

The year is 1796, and Newburyport, Massachusetts, is a thriving seaport. When the ship, Miranda, comes into port with many of the crew members ill with a very contagious fever, physician Giles Wiggins places the entire ship under quarantine. While the virus is not specified in the story, it seems to be similar to the deadly black plague. Even with the quarantine in place, some of the sailors manage to get to shore, and the townspeople begin to fall ill with the deadly disease. The next step is to place the entire port under quarantine and set aside an area where the sick can be cared for and isolated from the general population.

The "pest house" is a camp that is detached from the rest of the city in an effort to contain the epidemic. Death from the fever is common, with burial in a mass grave. Treatment for the fever is uncertain and not very effective and the attending physicians can't agree on the proper treatment. The medicine they do have are running dangerously low.

Then, when hoodlums steal the medical supplies intended for Newburyport to be sell them back to the town at an astronomical price, or to take to the black market in Boston, physician Giles Wiggins and the other caretakers have to deal with the panic of the seaport residents...mob rule, religious fervor, blackmail, fear and greed abound.

Family feuds and a romance are sub-plots in this exhilarating historical novel, complete with quirky characters, and lots of action to keep you reading far into the night.