The Physician's Daughter

This is the third novel I've read by Martha Conway and each one is a delight. The story of The Physician's Daughter kept me going at all hours of the night. It's that good. Right from the beginning, Vita, the novel's protagonist, engages the reader with her can-do spirit and unwillingness to bend to convention. She soaks up any crumbs of medical knowledge her father, a doctor, throws her way. Against all odds, and there are many, she never gives up on her dream to become a doctor at a time when women were relegated to the home and considered to be the weaker sex.

The novel is set just after the American civil war when men were coming home maimed physically and scarred emotionally. One of them is Jacob, who knew Vita's brother. Vita's on again and off again relationship with Jacob and the surprising ways she deals with him underlines her determination to let nothing stand in the way of what she wants.

Martha Conway entertains with her exquisite phrases and extensive details of the time. A well-researched and loving tale.