I’ve always been fascinated by medicine and the healing arts and have enjoyed both fiction and nonfiction titles that focus on the subject. It is truly amazing to ponder and absorb the incredible advances and changes in its practice over the past 200 years.
This historical fiction novel is set in Victorian England circa 1845 and relates a story about a young orphan who is raised by a well-known surgeon, Dr. Horace Croft. As she grows up as his ward, Eleanor (Nora) Beady becomes his first assistant and learns medicine and surgery under his tutelage. But, it is illegal in London for a woman to be a doctor so everything she does must remain a secret. Their clinic on Great Queen Street hums along nicely until the arrival of Dr. Daniel Gibson who is meant to become Croft’s partner in practice. Everything changes when Nora’s skills and expertise are exposed and she finds she can no longer live in the shadows. NO SPOILERS.
I enjoyed the details and descriptions of disease and treatment during this time period. As an RN, it sometimes seems crazy to me how little was actually known about cause and effect and how much science has discovered since that era. It’s always a bit difficult to read about how little women were allowed to do and the expectations that society had for them. I recently also read WOMEN IN WHITE COATS so was quite familiar with how difficult it was for women to become doctors and to be allowed to practice medicine much less surgery. The only drawback, for me, was the large part of the book that revolved around the romance aspect. Other than that, I found the book easy to read and entertaining. I'd rate this 3.5 stars but rounded up because of the subject being to my taste.
Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - historical fiction, medicine 1845, London
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