BOOK REVIEW: Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati @akaSaraDonati @BerkleyPub #wherethelightenters #bookreview

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.

Reflection

Brilliant and absorbing—this book totally transported me away from life and into this historical era with these incredible women. I can’t believe I didn’t know this was the second book to The Gilded Hour, which I haven’t read yet but has been on my tbr for ages. I didn’t realize until after finishing, and though this works as a standalone I do wish I had read them both in order! I have since started reading The Gilded Hour and it is still great reading in reverse order.

Set in the 1880s in New York City, Where the Light Enters centers around the plight of female doctors, who were often discounted in favor of their male counterparts. Women in general had it hard at that time—they weren’t equal citizens with equal rights, the mortality rates during childbirth were high, and a woman finding herself with a pregnancy she can’t or didn’t want had no options. Men held all the power, and women were left to deal with their “sins”, as they say. (Sadly, though nearly 150 years later things are much better in this regard, it is disheartening how far we still have to go in the battle for equality)

Anna and Sophie Savard are cousins who are both trained in medicine and both practice women’s health. As the story picks up, Sophie is grieving the loss of her husband to TB and is planning to use her inheritance to set up funding for women in medicine. Meanwhile Anna is a surgeon who is married to detective Jack Mezzanotte, and the two have recently lost custody of their foster children since the church wants them raised by Catholics (which Anna and Jack are not).

When Jack calls on Anna and Sophie to consult on two of his cases, things take a turn. A banker’s wife has disappeared, and a young woman is found murdered. One thing becomes clear—women are disappearing and there is a killer on the loose.

The simple truth was: the more she learned, the less she knew; she ran and ran but never quite caught up.

This is a weighty novel, both in the themes it broaches and in the physical size. At 650 pages, I loved holding this book in my hands. It often felt as though the physical weight was an important manifestation of the important topics of the novel itself. I loved the way it was told through many different types of media. It felt like I had genuine primary source documents interspersed to validate the story, though I realize it is a work of fiction. It felt so real, and I could tell how much research Donati did when writing this. Including letters, formal reports, newspaper articles, and even mundane items from life such as shopping lists really made the book feel authentic. I often forgot it was a work of fiction because everything felt so real.

Themes of race, gender, class, socioeconomic disparity, religion, friendship, family, loss, violence, and equality make this a book that feels like I got so much more out of than a mere novel. Truly outstanding!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.