Many people have heard of “Typhoid Mary,” who was believed to have infected between 51 to 122 people with typhoid fever. Less familiar is Mary Mallon herself, the cook behind the name. Born in 1869, Mary was a feisty, vulgar, yet deeply religious Irish immigrant. This quirky, anachronistic telling of the discovery of Mary’s peculiar disease as well as her forced quarantine unfolds in front of a backdrop of changing notions of medicine, morality and cleanliness. Did she willfully infect others? Was she a victim of a misguided medical authority? Or is the truth even stranger?

Many people have heard of “Typhoid Mary,” who was believed to have infected between 51 to 122 people with typhoid fever. Less familiar is Mary Mallon herself, the cook behind the name. Born in 1869, Mary was a feisty, vulgar, yet deeply religious Irish immigrant. This quirky, anachronistic telling of the discovery of Mary’s peculiar disease as well as her forced quarantine unfolds in front of a backdrop of changing notions of medicine, morality and cleanliness. Did she willfully infect others? Was she a victim of a misguided medical authority? Or is the truth even stranger?