New York City, 1883. Two women are doctors, one of them is a surgeon! They also are free-thinking, strong, independent women - way ahead of their time. It was refreshing to read about women not bowing to the mores of the time: be submissive and fashionable and aspire only to marriage and motherhood. These women dress comfortably, eschewing corsets, and believe in the power of women. They practice among the poor of the city. The reader will get a good look at a New York much different from today's. It's teeming with tenements, poor and homeless people, orphans, news boys, garbage strewn along the streets, street cars and horse-drawn carriages. The only thing that is similar to today is chaotic traffic.
There is illness, death, romance, intrigue, and lots of social issues one could discuss from now 'til the cows come home. This historical fiction was well-researched. Some of the story line is an imagined life of the author's own ancestors whose real story no one knows.
This book is long - 750 pages! (I feel like I should get credit for having read at least three books.) It took me a whole month to read it! The best of it came in the last 200 pages; that is when I was captivated and couldn't put it down. A sequel is being written.
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