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juliechristinejohnson 's review for:
Winter Sisters
by Robin Oliveira
A blizzard in the late winter of 1879 paralyzes upstate New York, and in the city of Albany, two young sisters flounder alone in the swirling winds and snowdrifts, trying to reach home. Like a fairy tale, a cherry-red sleigh appears and a kind man pulls them to safety, promising to take them someplace warm and safe until their parents can be found. But Emma O'Donnell, ten, and her little sister, six-year-old Claire, vanish like two tiny snowflakes.
Dr. Mary Sutter and her husband William were trauma surgeons during the Civil War, where they met, but live a more stable life in Albany now, working together at a local hospital and running a clinic from their home. Mary also operates a clandestine clinic on a side street, treating prostitutes and their children for free. Mary is something of an outcast herself, a woman in a man's profession, constantly having to outmaneuver those who would see her dismissed or set aside or even punished for the work she does, daring to challenge the system that treats all woman as less worthy and suspect.
Mary and William are friends of the two little girls' parents and when it's revealed that Bonnie and David O'Donnell perished in the freak blizzard, and their daughters are missing, the Sutters begin a door-to-door search for the children, pushing the police to continue their investigation until, a few weeks after the girls' disappearance, the police declare them dead, drowned in the river, trapped beneath the ice.
Six weeks after the blizzard and the disappearance of the O'Donnell sisters, disaster strikes Albany again: the Hudson river thaws and floods the city, with devastating consequences. The fate of the young girls is suddenly revealed. In the aftermath, the Sutters undertake a determined search for the truth and become embroiled in a tabloid-frenzied courtroom drama. Exposing dark secrets hidden behind the facade of vast fortunes and social capital could tear apart families, political establishment, and a very new and fragile love.
Robin Oliviera has crafted as fine a historical thriller as I've read. Beautifully written, richly detailed in fact and period atmosphere, layered with nuanced characters, and deeply political with themes that resonant in modern day, Winter Sisters is an outstanding, tense, compelling read. Highly recommended!
Dr. Mary Sutter and her husband William were trauma surgeons during the Civil War, where they met, but live a more stable life in Albany now, working together at a local hospital and running a clinic from their home. Mary also operates a clandestine clinic on a side street, treating prostitutes and their children for free. Mary is something of an outcast herself, a woman in a man's profession, constantly having to outmaneuver those who would see her dismissed or set aside or even punished for the work she does, daring to challenge the system that treats all woman as less worthy and suspect.
Mary and William are friends of the two little girls' parents and when it's revealed that Bonnie and David O'Donnell perished in the freak blizzard, and their daughters are missing, the Sutters begin a door-to-door search for the children, pushing the police to continue their investigation until, a few weeks after the girls' disappearance, the police declare them dead, drowned in the river, trapped beneath the ice.
Six weeks after the blizzard and the disappearance of the O'Donnell sisters, disaster strikes Albany again: the Hudson river thaws and floods the city, with devastating consequences. The fate of the young girls is suddenly revealed. In the aftermath, the Sutters undertake a determined search for the truth and become embroiled in a tabloid-frenzied courtroom drama. Exposing dark secrets hidden behind the facade of vast fortunes and social capital could tear apart families, political establishment, and a very new and fragile love.
Robin Oliviera has crafted as fine a historical thriller as I've read. Beautifully written, richly detailed in fact and period atmosphere, layered with nuanced characters, and deeply political with themes that resonant in modern day, Winter Sisters is an outstanding, tense, compelling read. Highly recommended!