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The internationally bestselling author of ‘Into the Wilderness’ makes her highly anticipated return with a remarkable epic about two female doctors in nineteenth-century New York and the transcendent power of courage and love.
This is my first foray into the world of Sara Donati. I am not familiar with the body of work she has already accomplished. This is a 700-page tome and when I took it up to read, I hoped the amount of time I was going to invest would be worth it. I can safely say that it was and that it was a great read, and every late night and early morning was enjoyed thoroughly by me.
This is well-researched and the detail is very well presented. We are in the year 1883 and two ladies, Anna Savard, a physician and surgeon and her cousin Sophie Savard, a physician and originally from New Orleans, serve the city’s poorest of the poor. Both of them are graduates of the Women’s Medical School and it shows the wealth and crushing poverty that was 1883 New York City. Both women fight to help help those they can in a world that is dominated by men and these same men do not want them in their realm. The laws that governed the country at that time and the persecution of those who tried to help the poor, leaves you breathless.
The bottom line is that this book is essentially a love story, believe it or not, and our heroine, Anna, is mesmerized by Detective Sergeant Mezzanotte. When their paths cross, the tenor of the story changes and I was very glad it did. It is delightful to read and while Sophie loves her dear soulmate Cap, she will not marry him as she is mulatto and does not want to bring shame on Cap’s family. Suffering from tuberculosis, his time is limited so we have buckets of drama but it has its light moments.
The weaving of love into the harsh reality of 1883 is beautifully crafted and I enjoyed every moment of it. While it ends abruptly, initially I was very annoyed until after doing some research, it appears that this is the first of a series. The work that went into this, the blending of fact and fiction to make this a believable story, was brilliant. I look forward to more.
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