THE ART OF DYING

When Will Raven returns to Edinburgh in 1849 as a medical doctor, he finds that sometimes there is no cure for damages inflicted in the past.

Raven is cautiously optimistic, and why wouldn’t he be? After having studied abroad, he is now the newly appointed assistant to the famous Dr. James Simpson, who pioneered the use of chloroform. Despite problems in his past, Raven hopes his life at Queen Street will settle into a respected routine, but one glance at the woman he left behind when he went on his travels and he knows that’s unlikely. Beautiful, intelligent Sarah Fisher was only a housemaid, although her keen intelligence had helped him in the past (The Way of All Flesh, 2018). Feeling the difference in their status would always be a deterrent, Will left her and went abroad. Another man, though, felt no such hesitation. In Raven’s absence, a rich doctor fell in love with Sarah, and she is now married. However, when several patients die of unexplained causes and Dr. Simpson’s expertise is questioned, Raven and Sarah will again join forces to find out why. The author deftly weaves history into this lively tale, unfolding facts about medicine and misogyny with equal ease. Making Raven and Sarah such stubborn characters only increases their believability, and a twist at the end nicely increases the pleasure of this story.

This is historical fiction at its most enjoyable, with facts smoothly blended into a clever plot.