The Plague and I

Book excerpt: A pre-WW2 American humorist contracts TB and “writes about her seclusion in a way that is painfully, barkingly funny” (Lissa Evans, The Guardian). “Getting tuberculosis in the middle of your life is like starting downtown to do a lot of urgent errands and being hit by a bus. When you regain consciousness you remember nothing about the urgent errands. You can’t even remember where you were going.” Thus begins Betty MacDonald’s memoir of her year in a sanatorium just outside Seattle battling the “White Plague.” MacDonald uses her offbeat humor to make the most of her time in the TB sanatorium—making all of us laugh in the process. “Improbably funny. . . equally remarkable.” ―Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly “Can you imagine writing a whole book about being forbidden to do anything other than lie in bed? But Betty does, and she somehow makes it a riveting chronicle.” ―Lory Widmer Hess, Emerald City Book Review “An appetizing, well-seasoned feast. MacDonald’s sharp, witty observations as she spends almost a year in The Pines Clinic, outside of Seattle, are perfectly pitched . . . with a huge dollop of idiosyncratic humour . . . MacDonald is an impressive and engaging storyteller.” ―Jules Morgan, The Lancet