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Wickett's Remedy: A Novel Audiobook
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(3.00) - 1,329 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
The triumphant follow-up to the bestselling Bee Season, Wickett’s Remedy is an epic but intimate novel about a young Irish-American woman facing down tragedy during the Great Flu epidemic of 1918. Wickett’s Remedy leads us back to Boston in the early part of the 20th century and into the world of Lydia, an Irish-American shop girl yearning for a grander world than the cramped confines of South Boston. She seems to be well on her way to the life she has dreamed of when she marries Henry Wickett, a shy medical student and the scion of a Boston Brahmin family. Soon after their wedding, however, Henry shocks Lydia by quitting medical school and creating a mail-order patent medicine called Wickett’s Remedy. And then just as the enterprise is getting off the ground, the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918 begins its deadly sweep across the world, drastically changing their lives. In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic — through the use of human subjects. Meanwhile, we follow the fate of Henry’s beloved Wickett’s Remedy as his one-time business partner steals the recipe and transforms it into QD Soda, a wildly popular soft drink. Based on years of research and evoking actual events, Wickett’s Remedy perfectly captures the texture of the times and brings a colourful cast of characters vividly to life, including a sad and funny chorus of the dead. With wit and dexterity, Goldberg has fashioned a novel that is both charming and grand. Wickett’s Remedy announces her arrival as a major novelist. South Boston belonged to Lydia as profoundly and wordlessly as her thimble finger. Her knowledge of its streets was more complete than any atlas, her mental maps reflecting changes that occurred from season to season, day to day, and hour to hour. Each time she left 28 D Street — one among a row of identical triple-decker houses, the tenements lining the street like so many stained teeth — her route reflected this internal almanac. . . . For ten years this was enough. Then in fifth grade, Lydia saw a city map and realized her entire world was a mitten dangling from Boston’s sleeve. Across the bridge lay Washington Street — the longest street in all New England — which began like any other but then continued north, a single determined thread of cobblestone that wove itself through every town from Boston to Providence. Once Lydia saw Washington Street she knew she could not allow it to exist without her. —excerpt from Wickett's Remedy
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"I loved this book. Goldberg's exploration of memory and its faults is incredibly charming, funny, and even starkly disturbing. The historical aspects were intriging and the inclusion of so much information on the 1919 flu epidemic was enlightening. Lydia was the ideal heroine for me. She grew as a woman and as a human being. I missed her once I had finished the book."
— Amanda (5 out of 5 stars)
Wickett's Remedy Listener Reviews
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" master wordsmith returns with some new tricks, which i thought were rad. "
— Cye, 2/3/2014 -
" Bee Season was much much better...this book could play out cool as a theater production but as a novel it was a bit choppy and hard to follow. "
— Lauren, 1/27/2014 -
" Sad. Really enjoyed the story, though!!! I loved all the side notes and the two parts of the stories! "
— Tammy, 1/18/2014 -
" I wanted to love this book, but the multiple voices and the subject matter left me feeling ho-hum. At least it was short. There were good moments, but overall the book did not sing. "
— Avocados, 1/15/2014 -
" I loved the way this book was written with the side comments. I also love anyting about the influenza pandemic. "
— Mary, 1/9/2014 -
" Great overview of the 1918 influenza epidemic, interwoven with story of a patent medicine/soda pop business. . . . Good characters, compelling story. "
— Kate, 1/8/2014 -
" I really just wish that it had less ambiguous endings. I liked the format of this book - it had "notes" in the margins of the pages from a collective "us". Seemingly, the collective memories and opinions of those who have "passed". A good book to read when you have the flu. "
— Amy, 1/7/2014 -
" A quick book to read. Creative format. Same girl who wrote Bee Season, I think. Good for Moms. "
— Sarah, 1/3/2014 -
" I had a hard time getting used to the format of this book at first, but after a while I was okay with it. I liked the history in this book, and the setting came through perfectly. I loved the characters, and I was sad to have the story end! I would like to read more fiction from that time period. "
— Lynne, 12/21/2013 -
" Strange story, a strange ending. But not too bad. "
— Laura, 12/20/2013 -
" This book seemed captivating (since I'd read from the author before) but I had to return it back to the library and it didn't seem worthy of renewing... Still, I can't say that it was horrible since I didn't finish it. "
— Sharon, 12/10/2013 -
" Average writing and story, but fun to read. I especially enjoyed the bits of "ephemera" at the end of each chapter. "
— Kelsey, 2/15/2013 -
" Read two of her books - not sure what the appeal is. "
— Chris, 1/14/2013 -
" The book on tape that just wouldn't die...maybe I would have liked it more if I had read not listened to it. I can still hear the little ding-ding-ding echo of each interlude. It did finally get interesting with the influenza outbreak - I like historical fiction and epidemeology. "
— Jen, 9/27/2012 -
" Great topic not as great read. But good. "
— Ms., 7/8/2012 -
" Really well-crafted and clever. Plus who doesn't love a good read about the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic? "
— Renata, 6/20/2012 -
" The story of a woman whose husband dies in the great 1918 (?) flu epidemic. Pretty good. "
— Alexis, 5/14/2012 -
" Totally random book. Readable, but the topic is SO esoteric and the story doesn't really go anywhere... you keep wondering what the point is. "
— Susannah, 1/20/2012 -
" This book was mildly interesting. It focused on the flu epidemic of 1918. Some of the history was definitely interesting but the stories were not really. "
— Melissa, 1/6/2012 -
" It took me about a third of the way into it before I figured out what the flash forwards were about. After that I wished I could go back and re-read parts. It was good and interesting. "
— Vicki, 12/24/2011 -
" I liked this historical novel about the 1918 flu epidemic. "
— Cynthia, 5/30/2011 -
" Sad. Really enjoyed the story, though!!! I loved all the side notes and the two parts of the stories! "
— Tammy, 3/31/2011 -
" arggh! agree with the good and bad reviews of this book!! finished though!! "
— Heidi, 2/4/2011 -
" Poor showing for a second novel... "
— Alison, 11/11/2010 -
" The best book I've ever read about a flu epidemic. "
— Carrie, 8/15/2010 -
" What an odd book. The main story was really quite good. The period newspaper pieces helped set the scene. The odd inputs from obscure characters were annoying. I have enough trouble reading a book without undue interuptions without the author constantly interupting the flow of her own story. "
— Anne, 8/10/2010 -
" I was kinda into the story line about the main character and her husband Wickett, but then the author was doing this cutesy thing where each chapter was interspliced with these faux old-timey ads for rootbeer or something and it was just boring. I LOVED Bee Season, so this was disappointing. "
— Lee, 7/16/2010 -
" Utterly different from Bee Season, but almost as weird. "
— Dori, 6/8/2010 -
" Disappointing. I couldn't get into any of the characters in this novel and the "ending" was very unsatisfying. Very unlike Bee Season, which I loved. "
— Michelle, 5/16/2010 -
" This is a multi-dimensional, intricately woven book. A little odd and strange, but I enjoyed it and learned some interesting historical happenings surrounding the early twentieth century. "
— Kathie, 5/15/2010 -
" I wasn't sure I would enjoy this one as much as I did. It is a trip back in time during the Spanish influenza outbreak. The things that were done to make medical history...wow! "
— Joy, 4/26/2010
About Myla Goldberg
Myla Goldberg is the bestselling author of several books, including Feast Your Eyes, The False Friend, Wickett’s Remedy, and Bee Season, which was a New York Times Notable Book, a winner of the Borders New Voices Prize, and a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN award, as well as being adapted to film and widely translated.
About the Narrators
David Aaron Baker is a voice and film actor. He is an award-winning narrator of dozens of audiobooks, including the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, Paradise Dogs by Man Martin, and The Bartender’s Tale by Ivan Doig. He has earned several AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration.
Ilyana Kadushin was born in Miami and raised in the rural cornfields of Maryland. She attended the Tisch School of Arts in New York City and has performed in many theater productions. Kadushin wrote and performed a one woman multimedia musical called Devour the Apple. Her narration of In the Age of Love and Chocolate won an AudioFile Earphones Award.