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My Name Is Mary Sutter
by Robin Oliveira
"My Name Is Mary Sutter" is in the special class of historical fiction that immerses you in a time period, making you understand and feel what it was like to live then.
Set in the first years of the American Civil War, the novel is the story of a young midwife who is determined to become a surgeon. After experiencing rejection by the medical school in Albany, New York, Mary Sutter decides to answer Dorothea Dix's call for women to come to Washington to serve as nurses in the hospitals. The federal government is woefully unprepared for the vast number of sick and wounded that fill the DC hospitals. Conditions are horrific and there are few doctors and nurses to help. Mary throws herself into the work, scrubbing walls, cleaning toilets, and changing sheets. When the wounded from a battle arrive, Mary finds herself assisting the hospital surgeon in doing amputations.
When her twin sister is about to give birth in Albany, Mary goes home to assist in the birth, arriving as her sister Jenny is already in labor. Tragedy strikes and Mary feels like a failure. She returns to Washington, but takes a clerk's job because she has lost confidence in her medical ability. But when another battle decimates Union troops, Mary goes to the front-line hospitals and is able to use her hard-won skill to save lives.
There are a few chapters told from the point of view of President Lincoln which feel a bit awkward. While the insights on Lincoln's state of mind are interesting, they distract from the storyline. There are also some sentences that I had to read over and over because of twisted syntax.
If you liked the PBS series 'Mercy Street', this book will appeal to you. Highly recommended.
Set in the first years of the American Civil War, the novel is the story of a young midwife who is determined to become a surgeon. After experiencing rejection by the medical school in Albany, New York, Mary Sutter decides to answer Dorothea Dix's call for women to come to Washington to serve as nurses in the hospitals. The federal government is woefully unprepared for the vast number of sick and wounded that fill the DC hospitals. Conditions are horrific and there are few doctors and nurses to help. Mary throws herself into the work, scrubbing walls, cleaning toilets, and changing sheets. When the wounded from a battle arrive, Mary finds herself assisting the hospital surgeon in doing amputations.
When her twin sister is about to give birth in Albany, Mary goes home to assist in the birth, arriving as her sister Jenny is already in labor. Tragedy strikes and Mary feels like a failure. She returns to Washington, but takes a clerk's job because she has lost confidence in her medical ability. But when another battle decimates Union troops, Mary goes to the front-line hospitals and is able to use her hard-won skill to save lives.
There are a few chapters told from the point of view of President Lincoln which feel a bit awkward. While the insights on Lincoln's state of mind are interesting, they distract from the storyline. There are also some sentences that I had to read over and over because of twisted syntax.
If you liked the PBS series 'Mercy Street', this book will appeal to you. Highly recommended.