Fever 1793 Summary

In August, 1793, 14-year-old Matilda “Mattie” Cook is awakened by her mother, Lucille Cook, scolding her for sleeping late. Mattie is needed immediately to help in their coffeehouse, since their serving girl, Polly, is late for work. Mattie would rather daydream about escaping Philadelphia, much like Blanchard’s hot-air balloon which flew earlier that year, but she reluctantly complies. Eliza, the coffeehouse cook and Mattie’s closest confidant, serves her a generous breakfast but quickly shoos her outside to tend the garden. Mattie continues to daydream about her crush, Nathaniel Benson, and about running her own businesses someday, but she’s interrupted by Mother again—this time with the news that Polly has died suddenly of a fever.

Mattie takes over Polly’s duties in the coffeehouse, hearing her beloved Grandfather debate with customers about rumors of a yellow fever outbreak in the city. A couple of weeks later, many have died from the fever, but Grandfather argues that it’s nothing to be concerned about. One day, a neighborhood aristocrat, Pernilla Ogilvie, invites Mattie and Lucille to tea. Mattie hates Pernilla’s snobby daughters, Colette and Jeannine, and doesn’t share Lucille’s desire that she marry a rich Ogilvie son, but she reluctantly goes along. Just as Jeannine is picking a fight with Mattie by insulting the Cook Coffeehouse, Colette abruptly collapses from yellow fever.

Soon, Philadelphia comes to a standstill because of the fever, with many wealthier families fleeing to the countryside. Even President Washington and other prominent statesmen are vacating the city. Grandfather continues to argue that the fever rumors are alarmist, but one day, as he and Mattie return from running errands, they see Lucille being dropped off in front of the coffeehouse—she’s gravely ill.

Mattie spends a horrifying night tending to her feverish mother, who begs her to leave so that she won’t get sick. Mattie fears losing Lucille and regrets their past arguments; she believes she’s failed to learn from Lucille’s stoic strength. The next day a doctor diagnoses Lucille with yellow fever and bleeds her as a remedy. Grandfather agrees that he and Mattie should flee to the country while Eliza stays to care for Lucille. They hitch a ride with a farmer and his family. When they’re just 10 miles outside of Philadelphia, however, their wagon is stopped by guards and a doctor, and Grandfather is barred from passing through the outlying towns because of his suspicious cough. He and Mattie find themselves abandoned in the countryside without provisions.

When Mattie realizes that her sickly grandfather expects her to take charge, she’s frightened, but she soon remembers how to locate water and forage for berries to keep them alive. She even fashions a makeshift net and almost succeeds in catching fish. When she ventures to nearby farms in search of better food, however, she soon grows disoriented and succumbs to fever herself. Later, she wakes up and discovers that she’s recovering in the hospital; a nurse named Mrs. Flagg informs her that Grandfather has carried her there. The revitalized hospital, called Bush Hill, is staffed by French doctors who are more familiar with yellow fever and reject the American doctors’ blood-letting remedies.

After Mattie recovers, she and Grandfather get a wagon ride home. They find Philadelphia nearly deserted, with corpses in the streets, businesses abandoned, and thieves preying on the vulnerable. Even the coffeehouse has been broken into, and there’s no sign of Lucille, whom they hope has recovered and fled. Grandfather looks weak and unwell, so Mattie urges him to rest while she cobbles together meager meals from the neglected garden. It’s too dangerous to venture into the city in search of food.

On their second night in the house, Mattie is awakened by thieves coming in through the open windows. When they find and restrain Mattie, the commotion wakes Grandfather, who confronts the men with his rifle. When one of the thieves brutally attacks Grandfather, Mattie seizes Grandfather’s sword and wounds the man, chasing him from the house. When she returns, she finds Grandfather fading rapidly. He praises her bravery before he dies. Mattie is devastated to find herself truly alone.

The next morning, a man passes the house with a cart of dead bodies, and Mattie helps him push Grandfather’s corpse to the city’s burial ground. Mattie refuses to see Grandfather’s body tossed into a common grave without ceremony, and she leads the assembled gravediggers in reciting a Psalm. Then Mattie aimlessly wanders the streets of Philadelphia until she comes upon an abandoned orphan girl, Nell. Before she knows what she’s doing, she’s embracing Nell and carrying her around the city in search of help. Someone tells her to seek out the Free African Society volunteers, and before long, Mattie is tearfully reunited with Eliza, who’s been nursing fever victims all over the city.

Eliza assures Mattie that Lucille survived the fever and went to the country in search of her. Eliza takes Mattie and Nell home to her brother Joseph’s house, where Mattie tends to Nell and Joseph’s twin sons, Robert and William. Mattie soon talks herself into taking Nell to the orphan house, but when she gets there, the staff is overwhelmed with children whose parents have died from the fever. She happily takes Nell back home. She continues staying in Joseph’s house and assisting Eliza in caring for Philadelphia’s fever victims.

One night, Mattie and Eliza come home to find Joseph weeping over the twins and Nell, who have all fallen ill with the fever. Mattie takes charge and decides to move the children to the coffeehouse, where there’s cooler, fresher air. She and Eliza exhaust themselves in caring for the stricken children. Just as Mattie collapses in the garden in near despair, the season’s first frost hits, signaling an end to the epidemic. Soon the children’s fevers break, and farmers begin to return to the market with food. Joseph joyfully reunites with his sons.

As life transitions back to normal, Mattie begins spending more time with Nathaniel Benson and reaches an “understanding” with him (an informal engagement), despite her family’s earlier disapproval. She also invites Eliza to share the coffeehouse business with her, and the twins and Nell move in for good. The reopened coffeehouse quickly thrives, and Mattie is filled with good ideas for future expansion. However, she feels empty, missing Mother.

When President Washington returns to Philadelphia, his entourage is trailed by the wagons and carriages of those who’d fled the city. Among these, at last, is Mother, brought home by her friend Mrs. Ludington. Lucille and Mattie embrace tearfully, and Mattie is shocked by her mother’s frailty. Mrs. Ludington explains that when Lucille arrived in the countryside and discovered that Mattie was not there, she frantically went in search of Mattie and fell deathly ill. She miraculously recovered and is under strict orders to “live a life of leisure” from now on. Grieving the drastic change in her mother, Mattie realizes she is truly in charge now.

Weeks later, on a chilly December morning, Mattie wakes before anyone else in the coffeehouse has stirred. In contrast to the beginning of the novel, she lets her mother sleep and quietly prepares the coffeehouse for another workday. Thinking of the epidemic and remembering those she’s lost, Mattie nevertheless looks forward to a hopeful future.