Sparing no gory (and morbidly fascinating) detail while providing the reader with a rich, page-turning account of the lives and conditions of a time when smallpox claimed the lives or disfigured the rich, poor, evil, and innocent with equally ferocious indifference, Carrell has crafted a powerful reminder of the days when both the royal and the pauper were subject to one of the worst plagues ever to beset humanity. Whether on the edge of your seat as you attend the suffering in their fetid sickrooms, or dashing across crystalline Balkan plains toward exotic Constantinople (where Lady Mary will encounter the world-changing "miracle" of inoculation), the reader is rewarded by an account that is as sobering and exciting as it is moving.

'The Speckled Monster' is a triumphant story of human suffering and of the relentlessness of the human spirit in the face of almost certain disaster. The simultaneous fragility and preciousness of human life is underscored by the mellifluous craftsmanship of Carrell's fascinating account, which features copious end-notes and summarized biographies that fortify the historical gravity of the tale. This work is highly recommended for all who enjoy top-flight historical fiction, but the story has immense import for our own day, when the relative healthiness of human existence is often taken for granted in Western society, and debates about the safety of vaccinations and inoculations continue to make headlines and elicit controversy.