Beyond Mr. Darcy: Romantic Historical Fiction discussion

In this stunning first novel, Mary Sutter is a brilliant, head­strong midwife from Albany, New York, who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine-and eager to run away from her recent heartbreak- Mary leaves home and travels to Washington, D.C. to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of William Stipp and James Blevens-two surgeons who fall unwittingly in love with Mary's courage, will, and stubbornness in the face of suffering-and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career in the desperately overwhelmed hospitals of the capital.

Like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain and Robert Hicks's The Widow of the South, My Name Is Mary Sutter powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the period. Rich with historical detail (including marvelous depictions of Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, General McClellan, and John Hay among others), and full of the tragedies and challenges of wartime, My Name Is Mary Sutter is an exceptional novel. And in Mary herself, Robin Oliveira has created a truly unforgettable heroine whose unwavering determination and vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere.

A few reason why I love this book:
1. The characters are so wonderfully developed. I feel that we really get to know the characters, even the minor ones. I think past of what helps in this is the stories of their past along side the present stories.

2. I enjoyed the glimpse in to the thoughts of actual historical people like Lincoln, Hay, Dorothea Dix among others.

3. I also like that Mary Sutter was a strong heroine and the unconventional romance with William Stip.

I really liked this book, although parts of it were so sad. I am fascinated by medical care during the civil war. When I was in college I had to do a project on Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott which is based on Alcott's own experience being a nurse at the Union Hotel Hospital (the same one the fictional Mary Sutter works in) in Washington, DC. It interested me a lot in civl war nursing and this book reminded me a lot of Hospital Sketches. If anyone is interested in reading it, it is available in its entirity online here: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome....

I will definitely check out Hospital Sketches!