The plot follows the evolution of a family of upper-class(ish) women in 19th Century New York as they encounter, and are changed by, the lives teeming in the city around them. Their voices are incredibly present, their motives flow from scene to scene I always understood why they did things, and how those actions grew naturally out of who they were. I found the characters intoxicating and fascinating. I'll say first and foremost that I loved this book. With its vivid depictions of old New York and its enormously appealing characters, 'The Gilded Hour' is a captivating, emotionally gripping novel that proves Sara Donati is an author at the height of her powers.' Faced with their helplessness, Anna must make an unexpected choice between holding on to the pain of her past and letting love into her life.įor Sophie, an obstetrician and the orphaned daughter of free people of color, helping a desperate young mother forces her to grapple with the oath she took as a doctor and thrusts her and Anna into the orbit of Anthony Comstock, a dangerous man who considers himself the enemy of everything indecent and of anyone who dares to defy him.

With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie both graduates of the Woman s Medical School treat the city s most vulnerable, even if doing so may put everything they ve strived for in jeopardy.Īnna's workhas placed her in the path of four children who have lost everything, just as she herself once had. The year is 1883, and in New York City, it s a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change.

The international bestselling author of 'Into the Wilderness 'makes her highly anticipated return with' 'a remarkable epic about two female doctors in nineteenth-century New York and the transcendent power of courage and love

The gilded hour by sara donati