Rent Wickett's Remedy

Synopsis

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, which has been stolen by Henry Wickett’s one-time business partner, Quentin Driscoll, to form the basis of a soft drink empire.

Throughout the novel we hear the voices of the dead, who offer a sidebar of running commentary that plays off the preceding narrative, 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.

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