While this book is fiction, the history of the topics, people and places was utilized throughout resulting in a richer reading experience. Nora’s goal is to become a licensed surgeon. But this is the 1850s and women were to be wives and mothers. Period. Nora was “adopted” by Horace Croft, one of the finest surgeons in England. He has taught her since she came to live with him. Hands-on. Training by doing. She is quite ready for medical school.
BUT, knowing she would never be accepted into any medical school in England, Dr. Croft sends her to the University of Bologna’s medical school, where a woman is on staff. But Nora is a rarity, she is the only female. She is not accepted by her teachers or fellow students.
Any mistake, perceived or real, is proof women should not be studying medicine. Nora’s successes were ignored. But she did have one distinct advantage, she was extremely knowledgeable about administering ether. Many doctors did not accept ether; knowing how to administer it was key.
The female doctor on the staff had just returned — Magdalena Morenco who has performed a Cesarean (extremely rare) while away. A woman appears at the hospital who has been in labor for an exceedingly long time. Magdalena orders Nora to administer ether and assist in a Cesarean. And that is the beginning of Nora’s belief in herself.
This is only a small part of this book. There is so much more. Dr. Croft’s battles with an envious and far less learned doctor. Daniel, Nora’s almost-finance, works with Dr. Croft. How a diphtheria epidemic is handled. Midwives knew so much about birth, but their knowledge was ignored by the medical profession.
You will be reminded how little the medical world then knew about germs. Instruments were “wiped off” and put away for next use. No wonder so many died of sepsis. How hospitals turned away patients if they could not pay, even when the doctors knew it meant death.
I discovered in “A Conversation with the Authors” at the end of the story, a previous book, The Girl in His Shadow, covers the period with Dr. Croft, Nora and Daniel before Nora goes to Bologna.
Be sure to read the “Historical Notes” at the end of the book as well as “A Conversation with the Authors” for facts about this era in women in medicine. The University of Bologna was founded in 1088 and is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world. The first Cesarean where both mother and baby survived was performed by a British person was done by an English woman posing as a man.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction that is steeped in fact. The medical procedures described in The Surgeon’s Daughter were pulled from actual cases written in that period.
I received a complimentary e-ARC* copy of The Surgeon’s Daughter from the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, via NetGalley. A positive review was not required; the opinions expressed are entirely my own.
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e-ARC* — electronic Advanced Reader Copy.
THIS REVIEW WILL BE POSTED TO BLOG on April 11, 2022.
When posted to NetGalley, it will post to my Goodreads account.
