The Woman with the Cure ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen 

G👀dreads

In 1940s and ’50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one’s life is untouched by this disease that kills or paralyzes its victims, particularly children. Outbreaks of the virus across the country regularly put American cities in lockdown. Some of the world’s best minds are engaged in the race to find a vaccine. The man who succeeds will be a God.

But Dorothy Horstmann is not focused on beating her colleagues to the vaccine. She just wants the world to have a cure. Applying the same determination that lifted her from a humble background as the daughter of immigrants, to becoming a doctor – often the only woman in the room-she hunts down the monster where it lurks: in the blood.

This discovery of hers, and an error by a competitor, catapults her closest colleague to a lead in the race. When his chance to win comes on a worldwide scale, she is asked to sink or validate his vaccine—and to decide what is forgivable, and how much should be sacrificed, in pursuit of the cure.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Medical

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Overall Enjoyment 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

Would I recommend it to anyone? 🗣️ Yes ➕ I actually think it should be on everyone's MUST read list. 

Would I want a sequel 🕮 🤷 I don't know. At the end of the book her research had turned to rubella so there would be plenty of material for a sequel. 

Would I want to read more books by this author 📚  Yes ➕

Trigger Warnings 💣💥I don't think so. We know about polio so going in I knew it would cover isolation, paralysis, death, fear. It also includes sexism in science at the time, but we know that too.

Spice 🌶No 

Plot twist 🌪 No

Tidbits 💻 Whew, I don't know where to start! I thought this was great whether you are pro-vax or anti-vax or vax natural.  
The difference between the "Polio Pioneers", as researchers were referred to by some in their industry, was some were desperate to save lives vs others on an ego trip to be "the one" to find the cure. The Nobel Peace Prize being their reward. 
Dorothy's focus was on saving lives. While others wanted to treat symptoms, she wanted to know the why and how it was being transmitted. Ultimately she discovered that the virus travels through the blood which lead to the ability to develop the vaccine. 

Dorothy devoted her life to medical research. She fell in love but she was married to her work. 

There were so many parallels to the covid pandemic. The pressure to race for the vaccine. 

This is only a spoiler if you don't know the history of the polio vaccine, which I would imagine a lot of people don't, unless you were an adult when it came out because it occupied the news or if you study epidemiology. I was just a wee tiny baby so I don't remember.
That being said, during covid there were a lot of self proclaimed epidemiology experts on social media. <<Had to throw that in there! SorryNotSorry.

**SPOILER ALERT**

The vaccine was to KILL the virus. The first vaccine that was approved killed people. It was rushed and due to a production error one manufacturer released a batch of vaccine that contained live polo virus instead of inactivated virus. 200,000 children received the bad vax. Within days reports of paralysis followed by the death of 10 children. 
The program was suspended. That resulted in tighter production controls. 

**//end spoiler alert

Another parallel was trying to convince people the vaccine was safe. 

What didn't parallel to the race for the covid vax, was it did not kill the virus as the polo vax. First we were told if you got the vaccine you wouldn't get covid. Then vaccinated people got covid. Then they said if you got the vaccine and got covid it wouldn't be as bad. People got bad covid. Then they said if you got the vaccine you wouldn't die from covid. People died.  
I would hope our technology is better than it was 75 years ago. 

🎧Hillary Huber

MY EXTRAS

She died in 2001 at the age of 89 due to complications of Alzheimer's.