Fever 1973 by Laurie Halse Anderson

This is a great little YA book that delves into the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia. Mattie's gumption and drive see her through some horrific experiences, as she becomes an adult and has to survive on her own in the city of brotherly love which loses that appellation fairly quickly as the disease takes hold. She starts out a child in what was then the capitol of the United States and emerges as her tough mother's daughter with a strength she didn't know she had