The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati FIC Don

It is 1883 and in New York City, two cousins, Anna and Sophie Savard, are doctors in a time when women doctors are looked down upon.  Sophie, as a mixed-race woman, finds it difficult to practice as an obstetrician.

In the course of her work, Anna, a surgeon, comes across four orphaned children and feels compelled to help them.  Sophie must deal with her love of their childhood friend who suffers from tuberculosis and has shut himself away from the world for fear of spreading the infection.

And while both women go about their lives and practices they must deal with Anthony Comstock, whose fight to prevent the spread of obscene and pornographic materials, includes the spread of any information regarding contraceptives.  Both Anna and Sophie must deal with how this affects the lives of the women, from rich to poor, whom they try to help.

This is a long book and any brief description fails to do it justice.  The author does a wonderful job of portraying what life was like in New York City in the late 1800s.  Raised in a home of luxury, the two doctors are exposed to the lives of the very poor through their medical careers.  Life in the city is described in a way that makes all those history books come to life.  From the excitement of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge to Staten Island, then a rural area full of farms and small villages, the book is full of what life was like then.

I raced through it in record time and can't wait for the promised sequel...

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