"My Name Is Marry Sutter" by Robin Oliveira

364 pages

Mary Sutter isn't exactly your average young woman in the mid-19th century. She's well-known in her hometown of Albany, New York, as the best midwife in the area, and she wants to become a doctor but she can't get a medical school to accept her. Headstrong as she is, she finds herself falling for the boy next door...problem is, he marries her twin sister. Then the Civil War breaks out, and nurses are needed in Washington DC. Mary answers the call, despite the fact that she falls short of the required age of 30 years. Nothing could have prepared Mary for the horrors she sees at the capitol, but she is finally able to begin training under the instruction of two surgeons. Family drama, however, threatens to stand in her way.

I found this book very interesting, as I'd heard a little about nurses during the Civil War but I didn't really know much about them. Still, I was a bit disappointed. I thought there was too much focus on the romantic drama (not one but TWO love triangles...yikes) and the writing seemed choppy at parts. Still, I thought it was entertaining and I might have even learned a thing or two. I'm always happy when I can do both at once.