CLARA'S WAY

In Carr’s historical novel, a nurse faces danger and unexpected love during the construction of the Panama Canal.

It’s December 1904 when 23-year old nurse Clara Tyler sets out for Panama from rural Cutler, Ohio, because her 26-year-old railroad engineer brother, Samuel, is too sick from malaria and pneumonia to travel home from there on his own. Clara has never left home, except to attend nursing school, but she’s determined to go on the journey despite her fiance Jasper’s disapproval. She already harbors doubts about her forthcoming marriage, and the prospect of moving in with Jasper and his parents “suffocates” her. In Panama, she finds that her brother is so shockingly gaunt that she leads him straight to a hospital, where he soon dies. On impulse, Clara crosses the Isthmus of Panama on a freight train, passing through the jungle to the excavation site where Samuel lived and worked in appalling conditions. There, she discovers that he’d been keeping notes about safety issues. After falling ill herself from yellow fever and recovering, Clara decides to stay, working at the hospital with Army Col. William Gorgas, a doctor who’s an actual historical figure. Overall, Carr delivers a well-researched story of a young woman breaking free from society’s expectations in this novel. Her research also yields appearances by other real-life historical personages over the course of the story, including John Frank Stevens, the chief engineer of the Panama Canal. Although Jasper comes off as something of a one-dimensional character, Clara is a fully realized human being whose relationships in Panama evolve in unexpected ways. Her quest to improve workers’ safety and support Gorgas’ goal of ridding the isthmus of mosquitoes is also portrayed in a believable manner.

Well-crafted fiction that offers little-known details about Panama Canal history.