Francie Fitzgerald is a fourteen-year-old girl living in Newark, New Jersey in the 1880s. She is looking forward to being educated and independent against the wishes of her Aunt Molly who feels a young Irish girl should just learn to clean and cook at home. Francie is dedicated to her dreams of being the first person in her family to graduate from high school. One day, Francie is so upset she feels she needs to get out of the tenement, or she will just burst. On her way to the lake, she stumbles across a dead fox lying in the brush. His dead eyes are looking directly at her while foam is dripping from its open mouth.


Francie runs back home to enlist the help of her best friend, Sean, to solve the mystery of what happened to the poor animal. They both look through some old newspaper articles where they come across an article about a New York boy who was bitten by a dog who had rabies and later died of hydrophobia, which means fear of water. Sean feels the fox Francie found died of rabies, too. Francie tries to live normally, but she is afraid of all the many dogs that run freely in her hometown.
What she dreads most finally happens. Her brother and his friends are attacked by a rabid dog which is a death sentence. Her journey for help leads her to Dr. Louis Pasteur in Paris.


About the Author


Victoria Olivett taught 7th Grade Middle School for thirty-five years in Lansing, Michigan. She has a degree in Sociology and History from Michigan State University. She enjoys making history come to life so others have the opportunity to relive experiences from the past. Victoria believes that history empowers us to learn from one another and affect change positively. She has traveled many places in the world and has a passion for learning and speaking different languages.


Victoria received an Honor Award for service to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital from Danny Thomas. Victoria was born in Detroit, Michigan and currently lives in Gurnee, Illinois. She enjoys spending time with her husband Daniel, three daughters, and eight grandchildren. She also loves going for long walks and reading.