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‘The Stolen Marriage’ Reimagines The 1944 Polio Outbreak in Hickory

Diane Chamberlain's latest novel recalls the polio outbreak in Hickory, NC, in 1944.
Images courtesy of Diane Chamberlain.
Diane Chamberlain's latest novel recalls the polio outbreak in Hickory, NC, in 1944.

In 1944 a polio outbreak swept across the Hickory and Charlotte area of North Carolina. Facilities in Charlotte quickly filled up with patients, leaving many in Hickory without proper treatment. In dire need of a medical facility, residents in Hickory banded together and built, outfitted and staffed an emergency hospital within 54 hours. The event came to be known as “The Miracle of Hickory.”

 Host Frank Stasio speaks with author Diane Chamberlain about her new book, “The Stolen Marriage”.

In her new novel “The Stolen Marriage” (St. Martin’s Press/2017) Diane Chamberlain tells the story of the town in 1944 and profiles one woman’s work as a nurse at the hospital after the epidemic strikes. Host Frank Stasio talks with Chamberlain about her new novel and the legacy of “The Miracle of Hickory.” Chamberlain reads across North Carolina in the coming weeks.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Charlie Shelton