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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
23 pages in, i abandoned this book. the writing just wasn't for me. for example, when getting into her carriage, the driver was silent as he took the protagonist from med school to a women's clinic. the narrator said that "discretion was the better part of valor." i don't really think that phrase fit the situation.
later when attempting to sneak back into the house, the narrator said that her aunt had "ears like a bat." so i formed this picture in my mind's eye of pointy ears :) perhaps if the author wanted to convey how sharp the aunt's hearing was, she could have chosen differently.
i know these comments may seem overly sensitive, but i prefer that writing not create such a clatter in my brain. when i read these 2 sentences, i stopped reading to say, "huh, what?!"
later when attempting to sneak back into the house, the narrator said that her aunt had "ears like a bat." so i formed this picture in my mind's eye of pointy ears :) perhaps if the author wanted to convey how sharp the aunt's hearing was, she could have chosen differently.
i know these comments may seem overly sensitive, but i prefer that writing not create such a clatter in my brain. when i read these 2 sentences, i stopped reading to say, "huh, what?!"
It is 1892. Sarah is a social pariah, sent away from her home in London to her family in Edinburgh, where she has joined the first class of female medical students. Supplementing her official training with hands-on work, she meets Lucy, and feels a strange connection with her, and this will change her life.
The social and professional interactions between the genders (including women-women) and students-lecturers were well handled, and all the women themselves varied from the extreme to the moderate, as one would expect. We're not beaten over the head by Sarah's Past nor by backwards-looking morality. Instead, social issues from chaperonage to phossy jaw and rehabilitation are carefully introduced, none inadvertently taking precedence over the plot but all enhancing the overall feel of the book.
(Side note: I hadn't realized James Thin was already well established at this point! It's obvious the author knows Edinburgh well, and understands its history.)
I look forward to reading the next books in the series!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The social and professional interactions between the genders (including women-women) and students-lecturers were well handled, and all the women themselves varied from the extreme to the moderate, as one would expect. We're not beaten over the head by Sarah's Past nor by backwards-looking morality. Instead, social issues from chaperonage to phossy jaw and rehabilitation are carefully introduced, none inadvertently taking precedence over the plot but all enhancing the overall feel of the book.
(Side note: I hadn't realized James Thin was already well established at this point! It's obvious the author knows Edinburgh well, and understands its history.)
I look forward to reading the next books in the series!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was absolutely blown away by this book! I’m normally not into historical fiction, but I do like mysteries so I decided to give it a go, and couldn’t put it down. It’s clever, it’s fun, wonderfully written and kept me glued to the page until I was done
The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh is the first book in the Sarah Gilchrist Mysteries series. The book follows first-year medical student Sarah Gilchrist as attends the University of Edenborough the first year it admits women into their medical school.
The book is a murder mystery but it’s also a historical commentary about the plight of women in the late Victorian area as women have beginning to make inroads in gaining their independence. The story has an additional layer of showing this from the perspective of young women who comes from the upper class where young women are even more controlled by their families.
Sarah Gilchrist was born in London to a wealthy family and just like all young women from the upper crust she’s expected to find a good match, marry, and become a dutiful wife. However, this all changes one night when Sarah is assaulted, and her virtue is destroyed. This makes her damaged goods and for all intense and matter useless to her family. She is sent to Edenborough to live with her aunt and uncle and allowed to enter medical school.
While I found the murder mystery part of the story interesting, I figured it out pretty quickly, however, that’s not the main driving force of the story, for me, what drives the story and makes it compelling is reading Sarah’s journey. The woman she’s becoming is very different from the woman she once was. She learns to empathize with others who are not of her social class but nonetheless have been abused and trampled on by those around them and society as a whole.
The story has a feminist slant and I enjoyed the exploration of the rivalry of women. The author doesn’t go too in-depth into it, but she does address it, which I appreciate.
Overall I enjoyed the story a great deal, 4 stars.
The book is a murder mystery but it’s also a historical commentary about the plight of women in the late Victorian area as women have beginning to make inroads in gaining their independence. The story has an additional layer of showing this from the perspective of young women who comes from the upper class where young women are even more controlled by their families.
Sarah Gilchrist was born in London to a wealthy family and just like all young women from the upper crust she’s expected to find a good match, marry, and become a dutiful wife. However, this all changes one night when Sarah is assaulted, and her virtue is destroyed. This makes her damaged goods and for all intense and matter useless to her family. She is sent to Edenborough to live with her aunt and uncle and allowed to enter medical school.
While I found the murder mystery part of the story interesting, I figured it out pretty quickly, however, that’s not the main driving force of the story, for me, what drives the story and makes it compelling is reading Sarah’s journey. The woman she’s becoming is very different from the woman she once was. She learns to empathize with others who are not of her social class but nonetheless have been abused and trampled on by those around them and society as a whole.
The story has a feminist slant and I enjoyed the exploration of the rivalry of women. The author doesn’t go too in-depth into it, but she does address it, which I appreciate.
Overall I enjoyed the story a great deal, 4 stars.
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
A great concept but the writing & plot didn't feel very smooth and at times felt like such a drag I almost didn't finish.
Good. Looking forward to the second one. After reading the Alienist and then this I'm really into this time period.
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
First of all, a huge thank you to Tinder Press for approving my request on NetGalley to read this extraordinary novel in exchange for an honest review. I saw Wages of Sin initially on Twitter and it ticked all the boxes for me as a reader. It's a work of historical fiction (tick), set in Edinburgh (tick) in the Victorian era (tick) that involves a strong female lead character (tick) dealing with a mysterious murder (tick). With so much going for it, there is always the anticipation that it might not be as great as it sounds but luckily I had no worries at all on that account. This book was a fantastic and thrilling debut novel and a truly fascinating look into women in science at a time when it was slightly frowned upon in an arrogantly patriarchal society.
Our main character is Sarah Gilchrist, a highly intelligent woman who dreams of being a doctor but has to leave London after a scandal threatens her standing in the world. She becomes a medical student in Edinburgh and has to struggle on a daily basis with not only the derision of the male students but also the attitudes of her fellow women scholars who become suspicious of her past. Sarah works her fingers to the bone - studying, completing practical and written assessments for her training and then (if that wasn't hard work enough) assisting a friend at her medical clinic, helping the poor, needy and often "women of ill repute."
This is where she comes across Lucy, a prostitute who comes in begging for help with an unwanted pregnancy, of course completely illegal in these times. She is turned away only to turn up dead on the anatomy table the next time Sarah sees her. Sarah feels devastated at what has happened but also determined to unearth the secrets of her death, especially when she suspects foul play and discovers tenuous links between Lucy and a professor at the medical school. However, she is treading on very dangerous grounds as some people may desire the secrets that died with Lucy to remain buried and may not necessarily welcome Sarah's interference.
The Wages Of Sin was an exciting, roller-coaster ride of a novel that had me hooked from page one. Kaite Welsh writes with such a canny eye for detail that you can sense everything in the narrative - the smells, the sounds, the sights and it is brilliantly gritty and difficult to put down once started. Sarah was a fantastic character who was flawed but inherently such a good person and I loved her dogged determination in getting at the truth behind an obviously grisly murder. One of my favourite things about this novel though had to be learning about what female medical students had to suffer when studying to become doctors. They went through abominable treatment being mocked on a daily basis for their choice of career and the lack of confidence in what they could achieve was quite honestly, disgusting. Thank goodness times have changed! For a debut novel, this is an amazing piece of work and so beautifully written. I thoroughly enjoyed every page and cannot wait to see what Kaite Welsh does next.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
Our main character is Sarah Gilchrist, a highly intelligent woman who dreams of being a doctor but has to leave London after a scandal threatens her standing in the world. She becomes a medical student in Edinburgh and has to struggle on a daily basis with not only the derision of the male students but also the attitudes of her fellow women scholars who become suspicious of her past. Sarah works her fingers to the bone - studying, completing practical and written assessments for her training and then (if that wasn't hard work enough) assisting a friend at her medical clinic, helping the poor, needy and often "women of ill repute."
This is where she comes across Lucy, a prostitute who comes in begging for help with an unwanted pregnancy, of course completely illegal in these times. She is turned away only to turn up dead on the anatomy table the next time Sarah sees her. Sarah feels devastated at what has happened but also determined to unearth the secrets of her death, especially when she suspects foul play and discovers tenuous links between Lucy and a professor at the medical school. However, she is treading on very dangerous grounds as some people may desire the secrets that died with Lucy to remain buried and may not necessarily welcome Sarah's interference.
The Wages Of Sin was an exciting, roller-coaster ride of a novel that had me hooked from page one. Kaite Welsh writes with such a canny eye for detail that you can sense everything in the narrative - the smells, the sounds, the sights and it is brilliantly gritty and difficult to put down once started. Sarah was a fantastic character who was flawed but inherently such a good person and I loved her dogged determination in getting at the truth behind an obviously grisly murder. One of my favourite things about this novel though had to be learning about what female medical students had to suffer when studying to become doctors. They went through abominable treatment being mocked on a daily basis for their choice of career and the lack of confidence in what they could achieve was quite honestly, disgusting. Thank goodness times have changed! For a debut novel, this is an amazing piece of work and so beautifully written. I thoroughly enjoyed every page and cannot wait to see what Kaite Welsh does next.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com