Fever

Mallon was an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid and through her work as a cook spread the disease throughout New York during the 1900s.

Irish American novelist, Mary Beth Keane, originally from upstate New York, has been inspired by Mallon's story to write her second novel, Fever, about the life of Typhoid Mary.

"The reason that I wrote the book was because the phrase is out there and people know it well, yet no one really knows the whole story behind 'Typhoid' Mary," winner of an American National Book Foundation Award Keane explains.

"She does have a story, she is a fully-fledged human being. Yet, for me as a writer, there was enough of a gap that I was able to invent around her, that was important when deciding to do the book, it gave me room to create a novel."

Fever casts a evocative light over the life of a figure once described as 'the most dangerous woman in America'.