Review for Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati

Hardcover, 672 pages

Expected publication: September 10th 2019 by Berkley Books

From the international bestselling author of The Gilded Hour comes Sara Donati's enthralling epic about two trailblazing female doctors in nineteenth-century New York.

Obstetrician Dr. Sophie Savard returns home to the achingly familiar rhythms of Manhattan in the early spring of 1884 to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. With the help of Dr. Anna Savard, her dearest friend, cousin, and fellow physician, she plans to continue her work aiding the disadvantaged women society would rather forget.

As Sophie sets out to construct a new life for herself, Anna's husband, Detective-Sergeant Jack Mezzanotte calls on them both to consult on two new cases: the wife of a prominent banker has disappeared into thin air, and the corpse of a young woman is found with baffling wounds that suggest a killer is on the loose. In New York it seems that the advancement of women has brought out the worst in some men. Unable to ignore the plight of New York's less fortunate, these intrepid cousins draw on all resources to protect their patients.

My Thoughts…

A 672 page book can be intimidating and this one was.   It arrived and I thought oh my gosh… that is a lot of pages and a lot of words.   I started the book hoping that I would be pulled in from the very beginning and that the story would move quickly.    I was pulled into the book from the beginning and the story did move quickly but as I got closer to the end I wished that it would slow down.  I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the story or the characters.  I became invested in their lives and didn’t want to see their story end.  

I found myself inspired by the strength of the ladies in the book.    They lived in a time when women were to be seen and not heard.   They were expected to get married, have children, and support their husbands.    The women in this book stepped out of this mold and became educated, became doctors and midwives, and became important people to the towns they lived in.    I loved them, I supported them, and I was excited to see what else they would do. 

Where the Light Enters is a book full of twists and turns that kept me guessing at what would happen next.   I was invested in the story, the characters, and the outcome of the story.   I would certainly recommend picking up your own copy of the book and fall into an amazing story.

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