My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

Buy on Amazon

Robin Oliveira sure starts out her career as a historical writer with a bang. From the very first words of the book we are introduced to Mary Sutter. This character explodes with life – my breath was taken away and then I couldn’t put down the book, reading until the wee hours of the morning and then waking up early to polish it off.

I’ve read novels based in the South during the Civil War time period, but I think this is the first novel I’ve read that deals exclusively with the happenings of the North. It really drove home the pain and agony and misery everyone was feeling during that time .. and most of all, the hopelessness.

I cannot even imagine what it would have felt like to be a woman aching to take up the call to be a surgeon. At a time when the only acceptable medical profession for a woman was to be a midwife, and even then there was a stigma attached to the calling – one overcome by Mary Sutter and her mother, Amelia.

So this story is about Mary’s battle to become what she wants to be most of all, a surgeon. Despite hard knock after hard knock and some of the most horrifying events occurring (a few of them under her own hands), in spite of loss unimaginable, Mary shines through this story. It’s really hard to describe without just telling you to read the book.

Furthermore, the level of detail regarding the movements of the North, Lincoln’s decisions and actions, the setting of hospitals, surgeries.. it’s all so fantastic I had to slow down and just try to absorb it all. I found myself crying more than once as I read about amputations and filthy surroundings and my heart broke with Mary when she was sent to “sort”.

I highly recommend this book. Buy it or get on that (sure to be large) waiting list at your library and spread the word.

View all my reviews >>