Caught
in the great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, a female doctor who’s joined a
traveling medicine show to support her disabled son is forced to
weather the storm and its aftermath in a town hostile to the troupe’s
unconventional ways but desperate for their help.
Once a trailblazer in the field of medicine, Dr. Tucia Hatherley hasn’t
touched a scalpel or stethoscope since she made a fatal mistake in the
operating theater. Instead, she works in a corset factory, striving to
earn enough to support her disabled son. When even that livelihood is
threatened, Tucia is left with one option—to join a wily, charismatic
showman named Huey and become part of his traveling medicine show.
Her medical license lends the show a pretense of credibility, but the
cures and tonics Tucia is forced to peddle are little more than
purgatives and bathwater. Loathing the duplicity, even as she finds
uneasy kinship with the other misfit performers, Tucia vows to leave as
soon as her debts are paid and start a new life with her son—if Huey
will ever let her go.
When the show reaches Galveston, Texas,
Tucia tries to break free from Huey, only to be pulled even deeper into
his schemes. But there is a far greater reckoning ahead, as a September
storm becomes a devastating hurricane that will decimate the Gulf
Coast—and challenge Tucia to recover her belief in medicine, in the
goodness of others—and in herself.
About The Author
Amanda is a historical fiction writer and registered nurse. Her first
novel, Between Earth and Sky, won the American Library Association’s
Reading List Award for Best Historical Fiction. She grew up in the
Colorado Rockies but now lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their
pet turtle Lenore.
My Review
A story of a tough woman whom back in the late 1890’s not only became a
woman doctor, but did so with honors. She tried to make it in a man’s
world, but was beaten down.
We meet Dr. Tucia Hatherley when she is
really on the down and out, trying to work in a factory and take care of
her handicapped son, but she is ripe for a con man to take more
advantage of her.
We meet Huey and the band of troopers, or
performers, and we travel with his medicine show, and soon learn what
they and Huey have in common.
The author gives us a bit of
everything, including some sweet romance, a hurricane, and some very
unscrupulous people. This quickly became a page turner, and will be
looking for more by this author!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Kensington, and was not required to give a positive review.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment