Recommended by the Reviewers Club
This is a fast-moving delightful story about a very determined young woman pursuing a medical career in the 1800’s. She was raised by a famous English doctor who was pioneering the use of ether in surgery. Unaccepted in English medicine she studies in Bologna, Italy, where she hopes to be awarded a Doctor of Medicine. Thus begins the colourful year and a half of Nora Beady.
The novel is very medically descriptive, which I loved, but others may find it overdone. The caesarean episodes were very exciting, as was the use and descriptions of the use of ether. Of course, this was the story of a woman fighting for her place in life, but the class descriptions generally were all insightful, and the descriptions of diphtheria, tetanus, maladies, as well as child birthing in that age, were all fascinating.
3/5 Stars