The Girl in His Shadow

I learned about Audrey Blake's The Girl in His Shadow when I went to the library catalog and saw that this was The Big Read, meaning it's always available for any patron at any time during The Big Read and library discussions would follow. I'm glad that it crossed my radar.

The story of Nora Beady takes place in London in the 1840's. She was orphaned as a young child during a pandemic and was taken in by a reknowned surgeon, Horace Croft. Croft originally takes in Nora almost as an experiment, to see how she will heal. He is convinced by his housekeeper to keep Nora. She is raised in Croft's home being curious about his work and eventually becomes his primary helper.

This was at a time when women were allowed to be nurses but were not allowed to be doctors. Yet Croft allowed her to do things that a student doctor would have done, running the risk of the two of them getting caught and both of them getting in trouble.

Things were going smoothly until a student comes to live with Croft and Nora. Nora is forced into the shadows.

I've done some cursory research to find out how much of this engaging story is real and the history of what it's based on. Sadly, my research is very lacking. Even not knowing how much is true and the actual history, I'd still recommend this book. It would probably be a good book club book.