Wickett's Remedy

A Novel

By: Myla Goldberg

Narrated by: Myla Goldberg

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The triumphant follow-up to the best-selling 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

©2005 Myla Goldberg (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“With this second voyage out, Goldberg demonstrates her versatility, mixing research with whimsy, sensitivity with humour, satire with romance.” —The Gazette (Montreal)

“Goldberg displays a fresh, distinctive, totally winning voice.” —Publishers Weekly

“A rich historical re-creation whose energy and ingenuity evoke memories of EL Doctorow’s classic Ragtime, Stephen Milhauser’s Pulitzer Prize winner Martin Dressler and Thomas McMahon’s forgotten picturesque mini masterpiece McKay’s Bees. A fine novel …. And a quantum leap forward for the gifted Goldberg.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

A surprising WOW

What made the experience of listening to Wickett's Remedy the most enjoyable?

I had not heard of the book so I had no idea what it was going to be. It is quirky and well written. The first few minutes were a bit confusing with the "commercials" but as soon as you get hooked on the story you will LOVE it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

any/all

Have you listened to any of Myla Goldberg’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I first listened to the Bee Season. It was good, I was a little disturbed by the mother.

If you could take any character from Wickett's Remedy out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I don't know if this question applies. Wickett's Remedy is light and charming, and yet the story is about hardship, disease, deceit... I would take any of the main characters out to a good dinner because they deserve it after what they have been through

Any additional comments?

I have recommended this book to everyone I know and all of the feedback that I have heard has been much like mine.

Grates on your nerves!

This audiobook tried so hard to be clever that it ended up just grating on my nerves. Where to start? First, the author really should have forked over the money to hire a good narrator. She sounds like a little girl and because she can't do multiple voices, she has had to use other narrators to provide the male voices in the book. The book has a very SLOW plot, such that keeping reading is an effort. The most annoying trick the author uses is contradicting plot events with another voice, such as: (female voice) "Henry spilled his drink on Lydia, he was so nervous." ... then a male voice cuts in with: "Henry remembers that it was Lydia who spilled her drink." After the 20th time this happens, it quits being cute and starts being quite annoying. The book summary describes this device as "cleverly illuminating the slippery interplay of perception and memory." We all know that two people will each remember a past event differently. We don't need to be reminded of this over and over again. Also, the "parallel narrative" of QD Soda is intrusive and commercial-like. It is meant to be coming from the loudspeaker on a tourbus touring Boston, complete with music and sound effects, and is explaining the history of QD soda. It includes the original commercial jingle. Well, guess what folks, when I listen to an audiobook I don't want to hear a commercial, I just want to hear a story! I don't care that this is providing context or illustrating the pervasiveness of advertising of that time. It is annoying! Many books are light on plot because of character development, however, this book is light on plot AND character development. I didn't care one whit about any character in the book. I was actually cheering when one central but irritating character died! Finally, the publisher's summary states that the author put "years of research" into this book. That may be so, but a little more attention to plot and character would have gone a long way toward making this an enjoyable book.

Darata

I agree the the other reader (Susan),a big mess of a story, but I made myself finish it none the less. Jumps around way too much. Weird naratives...music. Don't waste your time!

A good listen

I enjoyed this book. Myla Goldberg narrates, and does a good job. The story keeps your attention the entire time. Give it a listen, you won't regret it.

NOT Bee Season

I wanted to like this book because I loved Bee Season, but from the beginning this book and I just did not hit it off. Too many sound effects, music, and cheesy advertisement-like segments, barely a plot thread to follow, and a RIDICULOUS amount of time spent waiting for the obvious to happen. And while Myla Goldberg's voice fits the bill perfectly in her reading of Bee Season, it is totally out of place here.