The Drummer Was the First to Die

By Liza Pennywitt Taylor

Book Overview

As a cholera epidemic makes its way toward London, noted anesthesiologist Dr. John Snow searches for the source of the disease and encounters Lillian Arynsworth, a beautiful and haunted young woman. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312077386
• ISBN13: 9780312077389
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

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A bit of historical fiction

In the era of SARS and the bird flu, we take for granted that crack teams of scientists were not always around to search for the cause and explanation for an epidemic. Specific procedures for handling problems like Mad Cow Disease did not exist. This narrative takes us through the cholera epidemic and allows us to see the egos in academia and science that hampered the containment and, ultimately, the understanding of the disease.Starting in India during the days of the British Empire, an epidemic is beginning to make its rounds through the people. With the increase in trade and travel, we follow the disease to the streets of London as it begins to wreak havoc upon the population.The author does a great job in describing the epidemic as well as the government's denial that anything is really out of control. Taylor gives us the different subplots, which enriches each character and lets us experience the personal agendas that drive them as well as the historic culture that holds them back.I would recommend this book for readers of historical fiction concerning the Victorian era and readers wanting an accessible tale of epidemic