MARY BETH KEANE, the author of Fever, was born in New York City to Irish parents. She attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA in Fiction. In 2011, she was named by Julia Glass to the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35.” Author of The Walking People, she lives in Pearl River, New York, with her husband and their two sons.

Fever

Who was Typhoid Mary? Was she a villain or a victim? Mary Beth Keane wrote a novel, Fever, about the tragic cook who helped spread a killer disease in America. But when the book was completed, she found herself reluctant to visit Mary’s grave.