Library Association of Rockland County Book of the Year winner
Raised in the gritty Mississippi River town of Davenport, Iowa, Cora Keck could have walked straight out of a Susan Glaspell story. When Cora was sent to Vassar College in the fall of 1884, she was a typical unmotivated, newly rich party girl. Her improbable educational opportunity at 鈥渢he first great educational institution for womankind鈥 turned into an enthralling journey of self-discovery as she struggled to meet the high standards in Vassar鈥檚 School of Music while trying to shed her reputation as the daughter of a notorious quack and self-made millionaire: Mrs. Dr. Rebecca J. Keck, second only to Lydia Pinkham as America鈥檚 most successful self-made female patent medicine entrepreneur of the time.
This lively, stereotype-shattering story might have been lost, had Cora鈥檚 great-granddaughter, Greta Nettleton, not decided to go through some old family trunks instead of discarding most of the contents unexamined. Inside she discovered a rich cache of Cora鈥檚 college memorabilia鈥攅ssential complements to her 1885 diary, which Nettleton had already begun to read. The Quack鈥檚 Daughter details Cora鈥檚 youthful travails and adventures during a time of great social and economic transformation. From her working-class childhood to her gilded youth and her later married life, Cora experienced triumphs and disappointments as a gifted concert pianist that the reader will recognize as tied to the limited opportunities open to women at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as to the dangerous consequences for those who challenged social norms.
Set in an era of surging wealth torn by political controversy over inequality and women鈥檚 rights and widespread panic about domestic terrorists, The Quack鈥檚 Daughter is illustrated with over a hundred original images and photographs that illuminate the life of a spirited and charming heroine who ultimately faced a stark life-and-death crisis that would force her to re-examine her doubts about her mother鈥檚 medical integrity.
鈥淕reta Nettleton, through her great grandmother鈥檚 memorabilia, letters and diaries, has written an expansive, extraordinary book that delves into the mores, and constraints of the age. Nettleton has triumphed doing the very thing so many people threaten to do: she has written the story of a fabled, somewhat notorious ancestor. And she鈥檚 done this brilliantly.鈥濃擝ethany Ball, author, What to Do About the Solomons
鈥淥ffers a rare glimpse of life in late 19th-century Davenport through Cora Keck鈥檚 eyes . . . and takes readers to Vassar鈥檚 Poughkeepsie NY campus and Cora鈥檚 favorite partying place, New York City.鈥濃Quad City Times
鈥淩eaders hit the jackpot. . . . Greta Nettleton provides a fascinating snapshot of life for women of the late 19th century. . . . Cora and her friends defy the Victorian stereotype.鈥濃Huffington Post
鈥淚 was fascinated by the story of Mrs. Dr. Rebecca Keck and her willful daughter Cora. The Quack鈥檚 Daughter is good medicine!鈥濃擟harity Nebbe, 海角乱伦社区Public Radio
鈥淎 complex and superbly written book.鈥濃擯rofessor Emeritus Elizabeth A. Daniels, Vassar College Historian
鈥淚n this riveting family history the author explores the life of her adventurous great-grandmother, Cora Keck, daughter to one of the most successful female patent-medicine entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century. . . . Cora鈥檚 diary and a trove of astonishingly personal memorabilia enliven the book.鈥濃The New York Researcher
2017 Library Association of Rockland County Book of the Year
