The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

The Great Trouble

by Deborah Hopkinson

Eel, an orphan, and his best friend Florrie must help Dr. John Snow prove that cholera is spread through water, and not poisonous air, when an epidemic sweeps across their London neighborhood in 1854.

Eel, an orphan, and his best friend Florrie must help Dr. John Snow prove that cholera is spread through water and not poisonous air when an epidemic sweeps across their London neighborhood in 1854.

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

3 of 5 stars

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3.5 stars

"If people are told something for hundreds of years, its difficult to change their minds."

This book is a true historical fiction novel, it focuses more on the history and what happened than any real connecting storyline to the characters. I found it very interesting how they used to think cholera spread. I found that the way the medical information was written was very nice and made it so everyone could understand it without getting confused. Sadly though I never really felt connected to any of the characters and felt like that that part of the story fell short. The villain that was supposed to be horrible was barely in the story at all and when he was it was only for a few pages. I did really enjoy the friendships that Eel had. He was a very nice, and caring boy, who just wanted to do his part and make a living and protect his brother.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 17 May, 2015: Finished reading
  • 17 May, 2015: Reviewed