Wickett's Remedy

It's lovely, with an inventive narrative. The whisperers are charming, funny, and heartbreaking. A beautiful novel, especially for those who love historical fiction.

The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 which killed more people than all the 20th century wars, Goldberg explains in an end note, is the main subject of a novel that takes place in Boston, and the South side in particular, an immigrant neighborhood full of vigourous life, until the epidemic hits and forces the authorities to close schools and businesses and put a damper on public life in general, including a law against spitting. Lydia, an Irish shop girl, marries a grateful customer, Henry Wickett, who quits medical school with an idea for his remedy, a cure all potion that would be sent to customers with his rosy letters, similar to the ones that made Lydia fall in love with him. When he catches the flu and dies, Lydia returns to her family, where the fatalities continue and her brother Michael, among others, dies. She develops an overnight passion for nursing and is hired to participate in a study that attempts to find a cure for influenza. Meanwhile, Quentin Driscoll, Henry's partner in the remedy, tranforms the potion, from Lydia's original recipe, into QD soda, which becomes a favorite, though he never shares the wealth with Lydia, who continues to write letters requesting he comply with their original agreement. Part of the book is a history of the soda, with newsletters written by Ralph Finnester who becomes the president of the company and a second son to Driscoll, whose first son died at a young age. Goldberg accentuates her story of the epidemic and the soda with a recreation of South Boston during the period and there's lots of Southie flavor here, with authentic dialogue and actual newspaper clippings, although somehow the Red Sox are missing. Also lots of references to life during the influenza epidemic, when people had to avoid contact with each other, a simple cough becoming a severe threat to be shunned at all times.

Even though this historical novel was set in the devastating 1918 Flu Epidimic, it is much more "up" than her "Bee Season" (which was great reading, but not uplifting). I listened to Goldberg narrate both in audio and found the voices and sound effects of the margin notes in "Wickett's Remedy" quite entertaining and effective. Some offer another view of what happened. Goldberg's lead character Lydia displays courage, independence, and strength. This "Southie" of Boston moves beautifully through the novel as she struggles with the limitations of her background and the tough hand of cards which she is dealt.

Wickett's rememedy is awkward and weird and perfect. It's ridiculous and sad and so very engaging. Another reviewer complained that the cosmic perspective of the novel dwarfed Lydia Wickett's experiences, and I think that's exactly right, and just as it should be. The novel isn't really about telling any particular person's story. The novel is much more about how life unfolds senselessly and uncontrollably; how very little is within our control. Stupid decisions work out well, painstaking decisions work terribly. But in the end, everyone ends up in the same place, and every experience is precious. It's deeper and more mature than Bee Season, in which every character was desperately trying to find some greater order in the universe, around which they could form their lives, and that greater order was strongly implied.

Myla Goldberg has written a charming, quirky and strange book (just look at the front cover). This is not a conventional novel but a creative one if the reader gives it a chance. The central event of the novel is the influenza pan-epidemic during World War I as seen through the eyes of a married couple in Boston and of the souls who have perished of the flu in 1918. Ms. Goldberg stretches out her book to the 1990's by the device of following the strange corporate history of the husband's invention, Wickett's Remedy. While the story covers a lot of ground (there is a sub-plot involving unethical medical testing by the US Government), the characters, even as they die off, are compelling. In a book about death, this wonderful novel reaffirms life in its own fashion. For further historical background, the reader is referred to John Barry's "The Great Influenza" which tells how 20 million persons worldwide perished from this deadly virus.