The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh FIC Wel

It is 1892 and Sarah Gilchrist has escaped her scandalous past in London to become one of the first female medical students at the University of Edinburgh.  Disowned by her parents and forced to live with her strict aunt and uncle and not welcomed by the male medical students, Sarah walks a tight line, as do the other female students.

One morning in dissection class, Sarah recognizes the person she is working on as Lucy, a young prostitute she met while volunteering at a hospital in the slums.  Unable to get the image of Lucy out of her head, she is convinced that Lucy didn't really die of a laudanum overdose (as the autopsy says) but was, instead murdered.

As she searches for the truth about Lucy, she manages to annoy almost everyone - from her medical school professors to her fellow students to the woman with whom she volunteers.  And it goes without saying that her aunt and uncle are always annoyed with her.  Gradually, as more of Sarah's past is revealed, she inches closer to the truth.

I enjoyed this book a lot.  Sarah's courage, both in going to medical school and in trying to reshape her life, is admirable.  The descriptions of what life for women was like at that time made me cringe - at times, I wasn't sure much has changed.  Sarah is very likable and I'm looking forward to a sequel.

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