...written Katie Welsh, with a 2017 copyright. She lives and works in the United Kingdom. This book, her first novel, though she is a journalist, writing weekly columns and appearing on BBC radio programs.
The tale is set in Edinburgh, during the Victorian era, when women were basically considered property, with men dominating every facet of their lives. The lead character is Sarah, sent to live under the watchful eyes of her prim, condescending aunt and narrow-minded uncle who live in Edinburgh. Her desire is to become a doctor, well before the time females were accepted by society as capable or worth the investment to educate. As a first year student, she is often harassed by male students, humiliated by other female students, and belittled by professors.
Sarah is determined to be successful, though when she expresses too much interest in mysterious death of a patient at a clinic where she volunteers, she is opposed by one of the doctors who is her instructor. The plot thickens, more gruesome deaths occur. Sarah is held captive in an unexpected turn of events.
The descriptive references to the gritty lives of the unfortunates are probably very realistic, while painting a very grim portrait of life at that period in history. Only the wealthy got medical care when needed, and by today's standards of both care and sanitation, it was primitive at best. The under class, poorest workers,able to eke out the barest of subsistence, living in the meanest of circumstances, were often doomed from birth. Short difficult lives of continual hardship, rarely escaping their positions in the social hierarchy.
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