Fever 1793, By Laurie Halse Anderson

Sometimes bad things happen in an instant and all you can do is hope that everything will turn out okay. In the book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, Philadelphia experiences a sudden outbreak of yellow fever that affects Mattie in many ways and destroys the town she once knew. Before the plague Mattie worked in her family’s coffeehouse but dreamed of owning her own business in France but because of the raging epidemic, her life and thousands of people's lives change with over 5,000 deaths and constant struggles. Even through times of the worst hardships and suffering, Mattie Cook a young girl takes all of the extreme cases of murder, sickness, and death and turns them into life lessons and maturity.

In the beginning of the story one death

Her mother a dear women who married poor as her parents wanted her to marry rich wanted the same expectations for her daughter as her parents wanted for her. Mattie wanted a better life of a successful women. But then it all changed “The worst part was dragging mother from her pitiful sleep and getting her to sleep in the water. The fever had taken hold of her senses, and she wept calling my father’s name. (pg. 66) But throughout the hardships there was one sign for everyone that showed there was better days ahead. “A few blocks south lay the Walnut Street Prison, where Blanchard had flown that remarkable balloon. From the prison's courtyard it rose, a yellow silk bubble escaping the earth. I vowed to do that one day, slip free of the ropes that held me.” (pg. 4) Blanchard's balloon was a symbol all throughout the book that gave them reasons to believe that better days were

But right when they thought times couldn’t get any worse the miraculous frost started coming down. Frost. Their hope they had been waiting for. Mattie got to turn her life around. “I imagined Mother's face when she arrived home and found what a splendid job I had done running the coffeehouse. I could just picture it. I would be seeing the last customers out the door when Mother would come up the steps. She would exclaim how clean and well-run the coffeehouse was.” (16.30) She began to run the coffee shop all by herself with the help of Eliza she gave samples around town and showed her true growing mature self. They did not know how the frost killed the disease they just knew it was a sign their suffering would come to an end. “Everything is better now. I’m home, you’re home. You don’t have to worry anymore.” (pg. 238) As mother said the disease had passed and their troubles