Amanda Skenandore

Thank you to the author for this book which I won from her website email.

I don't think I've ever read a book about medicine traveling shows nor a woman or a doctor in 1900 traveling with one. Tucia was a single mother of a disabled son and a former doctor and in debt. She didn't trust Huey at first but needed her debt paid off so she went with him. To me, he seemed like a shyster and I think she did too.

What a cast of characters. A German giantess, a bowlegged musician, an indentured Creek poet, an Indian, etc. I was enthralled with the performances and as I got to know them, like Tucia, I began to like them even more. She also was a performer and didn't like it but what could she do, it was part of her “contract” with Huey.

I found this medicine show very interesting with the different places they set up and of course the people she interacted with there and the backstories of their lives before. It was not an easy life that's for sure.

Almost at the end when they were in Galveston, TX, a huge hurricane hit and it was chaos and thankfully Tucia was there to help others in need the way she always wanted to be as a doctor.… (más)

historical-novel, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, PTSD, medical-doctor, physical-attack, misogyny, friends, friendship, frustration, triggers, hucksters, unpleasant-boss, trauma, travel, family-by-choice, family-history, family*****

From medical school in Chicago with double trauma and shame, to having a young son with physical limitations, to being deep in debt and fired from a sweat shop, to reluctantly joining a travelling medicine show. Her PTSD has taken the form of Trichotillomania and Hemophobia. Despite having an MD license, she has no desire to ever do a surgical procedure again but is roped into sham performances to sell snake oil/nostrums. She becomes friends with the other nonstandard people working for the charlatan as they travel onward with the eventual destination of Galveston just before the historic hurricane. Well written with just the sort of characters and behaviors you'd expect. I really enjoyed the story and the well researched history.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Kensington Books via NetGalley.Thank you!
Pub Date 21 May 2024… (más)

This really was a thrilling historical novel set in New York. It revolves around Una Kelly, a grifter, pickpocket and thief who has been on her own surviving on the streets for 10 years. One night she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time when a man who fenced stolen goods is murdered. She is accused of the murder and taken to jail. She manages to escape. She reads about opportunities for women to apply for the Bellevue Training School for Nurses. With the help of her newspaper friend, Barney, she forges the information and bio information on the application and is accepted into the program. It’s a safe place for her to hide from the police.

Her roommate is Dru (Drusilla) Lewis and they become friends, though this is new to Una. She also finds a romantic interest with a certain young doctor, Edwin Westervelt.

When a woman she knew on the streets is treated at the hospital and then mysteriously dies, Una begins to see a pattern and is afraid the killer works at Bellevue. She risks everything to trap the killer into confessing in order to save more people and almost becomes a victim herself.

Una is surprised to find enjoyment and satisfaction in nursing and helping others.

A great story with believable characters, plenty of twists, and turns in the plot, with action, some romance and development of the protagonist.
… (más)