Quarantine

By: John Smolens

Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell

An eloquent and dramatic portrait of a city plagued by mysterious pestilence - as the isolation of the quarantine reveals the darker side of human nature. The year is 1796, and a trading ship arrives in the vibrant trading town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. But it's a ghost ship - her entire crew has been decimated by a virulent fever which sweeps through the harbor town, and Newburyport's residents start to fall ill and die with alarming haste. Something has to be done to stop the virus from spreading further.

When physician Giles Wiggins places the port under quarantine, he earns the ire of his shipbuilder half-brother, the wealthy and powerful Enoch Sumner, and their eccentric mother Miranda. Defiantly, Giles sets up a pest-house, where the afflicted might be cared for and separated from the rest of the populace in an attempt to contain the epidemic. As the epidemic grows, fear, greed, and unhinged obsession threaten the Sumner family - and the future of Newburyport.

©2012 John Smolens (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Fun reading

Overall, I must say I liked this book. I read the plot, then I read the reviews (a lot of them weren't positive at all) and I decided I'll have to see for myself. Yes, it is true, the first chapters are better then the final ones. And yes, some characters are not realistic at all. But it is a fine read, story is interesting enough, although there are some rather unbelievable twists. I liked the parts that described dealings with yellow fever way better than the love story bits. Performance? OK, I guess, the only part I personally had problems with, is interpretation of Marie's French accent. At the times she sounded more like she is being mentally challenged than French.

Neatly written bit of historic fiction

This is not a light topic and it's not by nature pleasant. But the characters are fun, and I believe the history to be viable. Not a great book, but certainly a good one.

Keep me on the edge of my seat

I absolutely loved this book. it was suspenseful and well read. I think it would be a good movie.

Quarantine

This book was interesting and entertaining. It is sad to see the effects of disease, especially since the world has been fighting COVID 19 recently. Thank God that our medical community has advanced so much since the time of this book. I felt that I read this story at an appropriate time, our country has lost so many people due to the pandemic.

Loved It!

I thought this book was great! Well written and very engaging. Narrator did a fantastic job! This audiobook deserves a much greater following than it has. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to give it a try. It’s free with Audio Plus(! ☺️), so there’s nothing to lose!! Come on people, give it a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed!! 😁

Reader too slow and plodding

While the story content was interesting, the narrator's approach was too plodding. All the characters' "voices" were the same monotone. I even sped up the pace to 1.25x.