This novel contained all I want in a book: well-researched historical setting, captivating narrative of true humanity, and revealed the medical profession for that time period in which I was totally ignorant.
Book cover summary: "Mary Sutter is a brilliant young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine --- and eager to run away from recent heartbreak --- Mary travels to Washington, D.C., to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of two surgeons, who both fall unwittingly in love with her, and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the difficult birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career against all odds. Rich with historical detail --- including cameo appearances by Abraham Lincoln and Dorothea Dix, among others --- and introducing a heroine whose unwavering determination and vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere, My Name is Mary Sutter is certain to be recognized as one of the great novels of the Civil War. "
Review by Journal of the American Medical Association: "Oliveira's scrupulously factually researched canvas allows it readers to witness through human experience the agonizingly complex relationship of disease, mutilation, death, and healing in war ... Oliveira makes the horrifyingly unimaginable become vivid through the drama encircling the intersecting lives of her central characters, for whom war reveals untold depths of human misery as well as compassion, new understanding, and indomitable, undefeated creativity."
It was interesting for me to note that shortly after I read My Name is Mary Sutter, I was rereading, as an adult, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe. I was completely impressed and encouraged by the deep faith given to the character of Tom.
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