Lucas Whitaker

by Cynthia DeFelice

Published 1 April 2001
In 1849 Lucas Whitaker watches his entire family die from consumption. After his mother's death he hears about an unorthodox cure for the disease, which involves digging up the body of the first family victim.
Based on historical fact, Lucas Whitaker is a graphic, gory account of a true practice, carried out by people in the 1800s who were desperate to save their loved ones from what we now call tuberculosis.