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Sarah Gilchrist #1
The Wages of Sin
Sarah Gilchrist has fled London and a troubled past to join the University of Edinburgh's medical school in 1892, the first year it admits women. She is determined to become a doctor despite the misgivings of her family and society, but Sarah quickly finds plenty of barriers at school itself: professors who refuse to teach their new pupils, male students determined to force out their female counterparts, and—perhaps worst of all—her female peers who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman.
Desperate for a proper education, Sarah turns to one of the city’s ramshackle charitable hospitals for additional training. The St Giles’ Infirmary for Women ministers to the downtrodden and drunk, the thieves and whores with nowhere else to go. In this environment, alongside a group of smart and tough teachers, Sarah gets quite an education. But when Lucy, one of Sarah’s patients, turns up in the university dissecting room as a battered corpse, Sarah finds herself drawn into a murky underworld of bribery, brothels, and body snatchers.
Painfully aware of just how little separates her own life from that of her former patient’s, Sarah is determined to find out what happened to Lucy and bring those responsible for her death to justice. But as she searches for answers in Edinburgh’s dank alleyways, bawdy houses and fight clubs, Sarah comes closer and closer to uncovering one of Edinburgh’s most lucrative trades, and, in doing so, puts her own life at risk…
An irresistible read with a fantastic heroine, beautifully drawn setting, fascinating insights into what it was like to study medicine as a woman at that time, The Wages of Sin is a stunning debut that heralds a striking new voice in historical fiction.
Desperate for a proper education, Sarah turns to one of the city’s ramshackle charitable hospitals for additional training. The St Giles’ Infirmary for Women ministers to the downtrodden and drunk, the thieves and whores with nowhere else to go. In this environment, alongside a group of smart and tough teachers, Sarah gets quite an education. But when Lucy, one of Sarah’s patients, turns up in the university dissecting room as a battered corpse, Sarah finds herself drawn into a murky underworld of bribery, brothels, and body snatchers.
Painfully aware of just how little separates her own life from that of her former patient’s, Sarah is determined to find out what happened to Lucy and bring those responsible for her death to justice. But as she searches for answers in Edinburgh’s dank alleyways, bawdy houses and fight clubs, Sarah comes closer and closer to uncovering one of Edinburgh’s most lucrative trades, and, in doing so, puts her own life at risk…
An irresistible read with a fantastic heroine, beautifully drawn setting, fascinating insights into what it was like to study medicine as a woman at that time, The Wages of Sin is a stunning debut that heralds a striking new voice in historical fiction.
290 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2017
118 people are currently reading
3629 people want to read
About the author
Kaite Welsh
6 books235 followersKaite Welsh is an author, critic and journalist living in Scotland.
Her novel The Wages of Sin, a feminist historical crime novel set in Victorian Edinburgh, is out in 2017 from Pegasus Books in the US in May and Headline/Tinder Press in June. It is the first novel featuring medical student, fallen woman and amateur sleuth Sarah Gilchrist, with two further books due in 2018 and 2019.
Her fiction has featured in several anthologies and she writes a regular column on LGBT issues for the Daily Telegraph as well as making frequent appearances on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. In 2014 she was shortlisted for both the Scottish New Writers Award and the Moniack Mhor Bridge Award. She has also been shortlisted for the 2010 Cheshire Prize for Fiction and the 2010 Spectrum Award for short fiction.
Kaite is represented by Laura Macdougall at Tibor Jones & Associates.
Her novel The Wages of Sin, a feminist historical crime novel set in Victorian Edinburgh, is out in 2017 from Pegasus Books in the US in May and Headline/Tinder Press in June. It is the first novel featuring medical student, fallen woman and amateur sleuth Sarah Gilchrist, with two further books due in 2018 and 2019.
Her fiction has featured in several anthologies and she writes a regular column on LGBT issues for the Daily Telegraph as well as making frequent appearances on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. In 2014 she was shortlisted for both the Scottish New Writers Award and the Moniack Mhor Bridge Award. She has also been shortlisted for the 2010 Cheshire Prize for Fiction and the 2010 Spectrum Award for short fiction.
Kaite is represented by Laura Macdougall at Tibor Jones & Associates.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 337 reviews
December 25, 2016
Sarah Gilchrist knew the world could be cruel. She wasn't the type of woman content to let it remain so.
People who were closest to Sarah turned on her at a time in her life when she needed them most. Her parents had her placed in a sanatorium to cure her hysterical, melancholic behavior.
In 1882, given the type of wealthy family Sarah came from in London, if she was raped...a complete victim...she was a disgrace to her family. Shame, blame, and sin would follow her.
"The doctors at the sanatorium had promised my father that it would cure my ramblings about Paul Beresford, about education, and becoming a doctor. When cutting had failed, restraints and the sweet release of opiates had dulled me into submission, but the legacy of surgery lingered. If my aunt's plans came to fruition, I would be a barren wife, a woman whose flat belly would be forever traced with scars from surgery and would never swell, never fulfill the one task society asked of me.
In the sanatorium Sarah was to pray. She was not allowed to read, or dwell on recent events, but to refocus her mind toward healthier topics than medicine, education or desire to become a doctor.
After three months-- not a word from Sarah's parents, they found a solution.
Sarah was leaving for Scotland to study, ( if that is what she still wanted -which she did), but would never be allowed to come back home again.
Sarah's relatives would care for her.... but she was to expect nothing from her mother or father.
"I had heaped too much shame on the family--first by my hoydenish ways, my suffragist learnings, my obsession with the university education, and now this. A reputation in ruins, and our family name, dragged through the dirt".
This is a page turning story -- I was deeply engaged with this historical novel. Most of it takes place at the University where Sara is now a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. Being it was the first year women were admitted- we get a clear vision of
"Sh!t happens"... ( injustice to women by male professors, by male students, and by other catty, competitive, and jealous female students).
Given Sarah's own past...she was particularly determined to bring dignity to a woman she had met when volunteering at a public non-profit hospital. Lucy was one of Sarah's patients at 'The Saint Giles' Infirmary for Women.
Lucy, a prostitute, pregnant, shows up dead - a corpse - she was delivered to the University for dissection.
Sarah is almost certain Lucy was murdered. She had bruises on her wrists and neck and there were other signs which made it clear to her that her death was not a suicide as the University professors were saying.
Sarah suspects 'her' professor: Professor Gregory Merchiston. She knows a few things: she saw the professor leave the brothel drunk one night. Also, Lucy was found dead on the floor, with her stomach ( pregnant), filled with laudanum, (alcohol).
Sarah puts her own life at risk while trying to solve a crime.
The storytelling moved in directions I didn't expect several times. It was a real pleasure to read and fully captured the texture of the times. I don't think Sarah Gilchrist considered herself a feminist. They were not words in her vocabulary. She did feel powerless at times ... yet was committed to justice. The mystery was ongoing to the very end.
Sarah was a woman who wouldn't give up until she had closure. She was simply a woman standing for what was right. To me she felt very real.
Kaite Welsh maintains historical accuracy for the period. Great research and integrity. Imaginative page turner!
Thank You Pegasus Books, NetGalley, and Kaite Welsh
People who were closest to Sarah turned on her at a time in her life when she needed them most. Her parents had her placed in a sanatorium to cure her hysterical, melancholic behavior.
In 1882, given the type of wealthy family Sarah came from in London, if she was raped...a complete victim...she was a disgrace to her family. Shame, blame, and sin would follow her.
"The doctors at the sanatorium had promised my father that it would cure my ramblings about Paul Beresford, about education, and becoming a doctor. When cutting had failed, restraints and the sweet release of opiates had dulled me into submission, but the legacy of surgery lingered. If my aunt's plans came to fruition, I would be a barren wife, a woman whose flat belly would be forever traced with scars from surgery and would never swell, never fulfill the one task society asked of me.
In the sanatorium Sarah was to pray. She was not allowed to read, or dwell on recent events, but to refocus her mind toward healthier topics than medicine, education or desire to become a doctor.
After three months-- not a word from Sarah's parents, they found a solution.
Sarah was leaving for Scotland to study, ( if that is what she still wanted -which she did), but would never be allowed to come back home again.
Sarah's relatives would care for her.... but she was to expect nothing from her mother or father.
"I had heaped too much shame on the family--first by my hoydenish ways, my suffragist learnings, my obsession with the university education, and now this. A reputation in ruins, and our family name, dragged through the dirt".
This is a page turning story -- I was deeply engaged with this historical novel. Most of it takes place at the University where Sara is now a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. Being it was the first year women were admitted- we get a clear vision of
"Sh!t happens"... ( injustice to women by male professors, by male students, and by other catty, competitive, and jealous female students).
Given Sarah's own past...she was particularly determined to bring dignity to a woman she had met when volunteering at a public non-profit hospital. Lucy was one of Sarah's patients at 'The Saint Giles' Infirmary for Women.
Lucy, a prostitute, pregnant, shows up dead - a corpse - she was delivered to the University for dissection.
Sarah is almost certain Lucy was murdered. She had bruises on her wrists and neck and there were other signs which made it clear to her that her death was not a suicide as the University professors were saying.
Sarah suspects 'her' professor: Professor Gregory Merchiston. She knows a few things: she saw the professor leave the brothel drunk one night. Also, Lucy was found dead on the floor, with her stomach ( pregnant), filled with laudanum, (alcohol).
Sarah puts her own life at risk while trying to solve a crime.
The storytelling moved in directions I didn't expect several times. It was a real pleasure to read and fully captured the texture of the times. I don't think Sarah Gilchrist considered herself a feminist. They were not words in her vocabulary. She did feel powerless at times ... yet was committed to justice. The mystery was ongoing to the very end.
Sarah was a woman who wouldn't give up until she had closure. She was simply a woman standing for what was right. To me she felt very real.
Kaite Welsh maintains historical accuracy for the period. Great research and integrity. Imaginative page turner!
Thank You Pegasus Books, NetGalley, and Kaite Welsh
April 11, 2017
The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh is a 2017 Pegasus publication.
I love historical mysteries, especially those set in the Victorian era, so I’m always on the lookout for a new series that fits that bill.
Thankfully, I stumbled across this little gem, which shows a great deal of promise.
Sarah Gilchrist is a character I instantly admired and respected. She’s suffered much as a woman in 1892 who has been cast out by her parents, who treat her as though she is the one who should be ashamed, and then is practically tortured before finally being allowed to join the University of Edinburgh’s medical school.
While her relatives continue their quest to marry her off, Sarah works hard at her studies, enduring abuse from male peers, but when she learns a prostitute, named Lucy, she helped treat in the hospital has been murdered, she is determined to discover what happened and why.
This is a compelling mystery with well drawn characterizations and a strong portrait of the underbelly of Scotland in a historical setting, creating a tense and often lurid atmosphere. The story spotlights the fragility of a woman's good standing, the lack of options or opportunities for someone who has fallen on hard times, blamed for crimes against their person, or who doesn't conform to society's norms.
Sarah is brave, pragmatic, and after her life experiences, a little jaded. But, she’s compassionate, smart, and due to her own circumstances, is able to avoid passing judgment, which is a kindness her patients need. The story is one that is all too familiar and one that could easily fit into a modern setting, just as easily. Yet, the mystery was surprising and I was genuinely surprised by the outcome.
This series is off to a solid start and do hope to follow Sarah on her future adventures and hope to see her character and the supporting cast again very soon!!
4 stars
I love historical mysteries, especially those set in the Victorian era, so I’m always on the lookout for a new series that fits that bill.
Thankfully, I stumbled across this little gem, which shows a great deal of promise.
Sarah Gilchrist is a character I instantly admired and respected. She’s suffered much as a woman in 1892 who has been cast out by her parents, who treat her as though she is the one who should be ashamed, and then is practically tortured before finally being allowed to join the University of Edinburgh’s medical school.
While her relatives continue their quest to marry her off, Sarah works hard at her studies, enduring abuse from male peers, but when she learns a prostitute, named Lucy, she helped treat in the hospital has been murdered, she is determined to discover what happened and why.
This is a compelling mystery with well drawn characterizations and a strong portrait of the underbelly of Scotland in a historical setting, creating a tense and often lurid atmosphere. The story spotlights the fragility of a woman's good standing, the lack of options or opportunities for someone who has fallen on hard times, blamed for crimes against their person, or who doesn't conform to society's norms.
Sarah is brave, pragmatic, and after her life experiences, a little jaded. But, she’s compassionate, smart, and due to her own circumstances, is able to avoid passing judgment, which is a kindness her patients need. The story is one that is all too familiar and one that could easily fit into a modern setting, just as easily. Yet, the mystery was surprising and I was genuinely surprised by the outcome.
This series is off to a solid start and do hope to follow Sarah on her future adventures and hope to see her character and the supporting cast again very soon!!
4 stars
February 28, 2017
If the eyes are the windows of the soul, then certainly the hands may convey the strength of it.
Ushering in the year of 1892, female hands were thought to solely engage in the rigid stitches around an embroidery frame and not clasped around the likes of a surgical scalpel.
But then you haven't met Sarah Gilchrist.
Sarah arrives in the upscale household of her aunt and uncle, the Buchanans, with a pleasing face and stature. This is Edinburgh, Scotland. Sarah has left behind a scandal upon the lips of those who relish the sharing of gossip and the unraveling of a young woman's reputation. A rest cure at a country sanatorium outside of London is all that she has left of an unspoken ordeal. Curiously, was the ordeal initiated by Sarah or visited upon her by some unsavory means? Secrets left in a jar by the door, you'll come to know.
Sarah puts aside society's version of her delicate, maidenly sensibilities and enrolls at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. Out of 100 students, only 12 are female. Women's pursuits for higher education were met with scoffs and ridicule. Ironically, some of that same ridicule came from the women themselves toward one another. The female hand that should have been extended in kindness was often clenched around a palm filled with insults and snarky remarks. Birthrights and social standings still took precedence.
And that same weak pedestal of social standing was the exact impetus to move Sarah to work at the Infirmary which catered to the poor and to the women of the brothels. It is here that Sarah comes across the wayward Lucy who ends up dead and being viewed in the dissection room of the university much to Sarah's horror.
Sarah suspects that Lucy has been murdered. In a very round about manner, she engages the help of one of her professors, Gregory Merchiston, until she suspects that he may have been involved somehow in Lucy's murder himself. Trust is such an elusive thing, isn't it?
Kaite Welsh presents a very well-researched historical fiction read including the upheaval of female emancipation. Her characters reflect the era, and yet, they are presented with multi-facets as varied individuals. The banter and dialogue at times was extremely clever and engaging. The Wages of Sin seems to define transgressions in the eye of the beholder. A remarkable read!
I received a copy of The Wages of Sin through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Pegasus Books and to Kaite Welsh for the opportunity.
Ushering in the year of 1892, female hands were thought to solely engage in the rigid stitches around an embroidery frame and not clasped around the likes of a surgical scalpel.
But then you haven't met Sarah Gilchrist.
Sarah arrives in the upscale household of her aunt and uncle, the Buchanans, with a pleasing face and stature. This is Edinburgh, Scotland. Sarah has left behind a scandal upon the lips of those who relish the sharing of gossip and the unraveling of a young woman's reputation. A rest cure at a country sanatorium outside of London is all that she has left of an unspoken ordeal. Curiously, was the ordeal initiated by Sarah or visited upon her by some unsavory means? Secrets left in a jar by the door, you'll come to know.
Sarah puts aside society's version of her delicate, maidenly sensibilities and enrolls at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. Out of 100 students, only 12 are female. Women's pursuits for higher education were met with scoffs and ridicule. Ironically, some of that same ridicule came from the women themselves toward one another. The female hand that should have been extended in kindness was often clenched around a palm filled with insults and snarky remarks. Birthrights and social standings still took precedence.
And that same weak pedestal of social standing was the exact impetus to move Sarah to work at the Infirmary which catered to the poor and to the women of the brothels. It is here that Sarah comes across the wayward Lucy who ends up dead and being viewed in the dissection room of the university much to Sarah's horror.
Sarah suspects that Lucy has been murdered. In a very round about manner, she engages the help of one of her professors, Gregory Merchiston, until she suspects that he may have been involved somehow in Lucy's murder himself. Trust is such an elusive thing, isn't it?
Kaite Welsh presents a very well-researched historical fiction read including the upheaval of female emancipation. Her characters reflect the era, and yet, they are presented with multi-facets as varied individuals. The banter and dialogue at times was extremely clever and engaging. The Wages of Sin seems to define transgressions in the eye of the beholder. A remarkable read!
I received a copy of The Wages of Sin through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Pegasus Books and to Kaite Welsh for the opportunity.
May 20, 2017
The combination of 19th century, feminism, and Scotland gave me high hopes, but I became more unhappy as I read. The sleuthing aspect is minimal; two-thirds of the way through the novel, the protagonist still hasn’t advanced beyond “I had no real reason to think she was murdered, but I could not stop thinking about her.” Once things start to develop, the narrative flow is cut off at the knees when the backstory of the prime suspect emerges in a long explanation given *while standing over the newly-discovered corpse*. The endless conversations about gender roles in society—also discussed over that dead body, as well as in schoolrooms, drawing rooms, carriages, infirmaries, and brothels—rarely develop beyond the black-and-white pegs of “a woman must know her place” and “I loathed the restrictions and hypocrisy of society.”
The author clearly did plenty of research, as shown in the period details, but there were serious historical lapses. Bloomers had their heyday in the early 1850s and their resurgence several decades later doesn’t count as being “recently pioneered.” The first female medical students to take classes at the University of Edinburgh began in 1869 so why is the class of 1892 causing such an uproar? It felt as if aspects of the nineteenth century were moved around by decades simply for the benefit of the plot, which is not how historical fiction is supposed to work.
The primary reason for the two star rating is the fact that although the mystery aspect wraps up with an interesting twist, the protagonist has no interior development. The novel goes along at the same emotional pitch all the way through, with Sarah in the same constant state of gloomy despair. There is no emotional resolution in relation to any part of her story, in spite of there being multiple plot lines that could have led to one or more - the trauma she experienced, the medical response to that trauma, her difficult relationship with her family, the push towards marriage, the difficulties faced by the female students at the hands of the men. The heroine experiences many difficult things, and she is sad about the murders and the reasons behind them, but she gains no emotional development.
The parallels between streetwalkers and seduced daughters of the better classes could have been developed into a nuanced and thoughtful novel, along the lines of Sarah Waters. (Which reminds me—the lesbian subplot comes out of nowhere and vanishes just as quickly.) Instead, the entire novel feels as narrow as the Old Town closes: a few Edinburgh locations visited repeatedly, a few discussion topics chewed over endlessly, and a protagonist who hardly moves beyond her initial state.
The author clearly did plenty of research, as shown in the period details, but there were serious historical lapses. Bloomers had their heyday in the early 1850s and their resurgence several decades later doesn’t count as being “recently pioneered.” The first female medical students to take classes at the University of Edinburgh began in 1869 so why is the class of 1892 causing such an uproar? It felt as if aspects of the nineteenth century were moved around by decades simply for the benefit of the plot, which is not how historical fiction is supposed to work.
The primary reason for the two star rating is the fact that although the mystery aspect wraps up with an interesting twist, the protagonist has no interior development. The novel goes along at the same emotional pitch all the way through, with Sarah in the same constant state of gloomy despair. There is no emotional resolution in relation to any part of her story, in spite of there being multiple plot lines that could have led to one or more - the trauma she experienced, the medical response to that trauma, her difficult relationship with her family, the push towards marriage, the difficulties faced by the female students at the hands of the men. The heroine experiences many difficult things, and she is sad about the murders and the reasons behind them, but she gains no emotional development.
The parallels between streetwalkers and seduced daughters of the better classes could have been developed into a nuanced and thoughtful novel, along the lines of Sarah Waters. (Which reminds me—the lesbian subplot comes out of nowhere and vanishes just as quickly.) Instead, the entire novel feels as narrow as the Old Town closes: a few Edinburgh locations visited repeatedly, a few discussion topics chewed over endlessly, and a protagonist who hardly moves beyond her initial state.
September 8, 2017
THE WAGES OF SIN is a historical fiction that has just the right ingredients for me. We have a strong heroine with a past that haunts her, a murder mystery and just the right amount of romance, which for me is pretty little. I love it when you can feel the chemistry between two characters and the author doesn't rush away with it instead builds it up slowly. The book also deals with something that is very close to my heart, women's right to study. Actually, it deals with more than that, the book also deals with things like a woman's right to her own body for instance abortions is a grave sin.
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
March 29, 2017
I have grown so bored with mysteries that torture women, terrorize them and basically make women appear to be helpless fools so when I saw the blurb "feminist heroine," I was immediately intrigued. The fact that the book was set in the Victorian Era only heightened my curiosity. I was not disappointed at all! The Wages of Sin is, unbelievably, the debut suspense novel by Kaite Welsh. The heroine mentioned is Sarah Gilchrist, a former socialite with "a past" who is now is one of the first females attending medical school in Edinburgh. It is there that she discovers the very dark underbelly of the Victorian Era and the hidden crimes being committed therein. Uncovering these crimes is one thing; exposing them leads to danger and possible expulsion from university.
Welsh weaves an unforgettable, dark tale of corruption, sexism and debauchery and her exquisite writing brings the stench and horrors of the Victorian Era to life right off of the pages. If you are a fan of historical fiction or historical suspense then this is a must read for you.
Welsh weaves an unforgettable, dark tale of corruption, sexism and debauchery and her exquisite writing brings the stench and horrors of the Victorian Era to life right off of the pages. If you are a fan of historical fiction or historical suspense then this is a must read for you.
July 17, 2017
A very atmospheric and detailed read about a young woman named Sarah Gilchrist who was allowed to study at The University of Edinburgh's medical school despite strong objections from her family who think her desires are lofty and fanciful. After suffering an assault which left her devastated, Sarah begins to recover and put her life back together only to deal with humiliation and shame in her family's social circles and decides she wants to make something of her life and become a doctor. There at The University she and other female students suffer degradation and insults from their male classmates that propels her determination to make her dream come true. During the course of her studies a young prostitute is murdered whom Sarah must find out what happened to her and leads her through the under belly of London's streets. Imagining what women literally had to go through to be heard and taken serious is almost ludicrous, to think that they weren't thought of being equally smart or capable to become doctors as well as men. I think the author did a good job of giving a sense of what women were fighting for albeit a tad too much throughout the book, but a good book nonetheless.
July 11, 2020
Sarah is studying to be a medical doctor at the University of Edinburgh. In the 1890's, women are not welcomed there by the male students and professors. During a class where the dead body of an indigent woman is being dissected, she realizes that this woman didnt die of drug overdose. She seems to have been murdered. Sarah cant let it go and she goes on a search for answers in the underbelly of Edinburgh.
I devoured this smart historical fiction that highlights the limitations placed on women throughout history. Fantastic novel that includes historical fiction, feminism as well as a murder mystery.
I devoured this smart historical fiction that highlights the limitations placed on women throughout history. Fantastic novel that includes historical fiction, feminism as well as a murder mystery.
August 16, 2023
No. Started out as an interesting story of a young woman en Edinburgh studying medicine in 1892; problems with male students, professors, guardians...a mystery of a murdered prostitute. But about half-way blah blah blah--not interesting anymore.
October 15, 2019
The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh is the first book in the Sarah Gilchrist Mysteries series. The book follows first-year medical student Sarah Gilchrist as attends the University of Edenborough the first year it admits women into their medical school.
The book is a murder mystery but it’s also a historical commentary about the plight of women in the late Victorian area as women have beginning to make inroads in gaining their independence. The story has an additional layer of showing this from the perspective of young women who comes from the upper class where young women are even more controlled by their families.
Sarah Gilchrist was born in London to a wealthy family and just like all young women from the upper crust she’s expected to find a good match, marry, and become a dutiful wife. However, this all changes one night when Sarah is assaulted, and her virtue is destroyed. This makes her damaged goods and for all intense and matter useless to her family. She is sent to Edenborough to live with her aunt and uncle and allowed to enter medical school.
While I found the murder mystery part of the story interesting, I figured it out pretty quickly, however, that’s not the main driving force of the story, for me, what drives the story and makes it compelling is reading Sarah’s journey. The woman she’s becoming is very different from the woman she once was. She learns to empathize with others who are not of her social class but nonetheless have been abused and trampled on by those around them and society as a whole.
The story has a feminist slant and I enjoyed the exploration of the rivalry of women. The author doesn’t go too in-depth into it, but she does address it, which I appreciate.
Overall I enjoyed the story a great deal, 4 stars.
The book is a murder mystery but it’s also a historical commentary about the plight of women in the late Victorian area as women have beginning to make inroads in gaining their independence. The story has an additional layer of showing this from the perspective of young women who comes from the upper class where young women are even more controlled by their families.
Sarah Gilchrist was born in London to a wealthy family and just like all young women from the upper crust she’s expected to find a good match, marry, and become a dutiful wife. However, this all changes one night when Sarah is assaulted, and her virtue is destroyed. This makes her damaged goods and for all intense and matter useless to her family. She is sent to Edenborough to live with her aunt and uncle and allowed to enter medical school.
While I found the murder mystery part of the story interesting, I figured it out pretty quickly, however, that’s not the main driving force of the story, for me, what drives the story and makes it compelling is reading Sarah’s journey. The woman she’s becoming is very different from the woman she once was. She learns to empathize with others who are not of her social class but nonetheless have been abused and trampled on by those around them and society as a whole.
The story has a feminist slant and I enjoyed the exploration of the rivalry of women. The author doesn’t go too in-depth into it, but she does address it, which I appreciate.
Overall I enjoyed the story a great deal, 4 stars.
July 3, 2019
Maybe really 3.5 stars for the first in a new series.
On the plus side: The setting is so atmospheric. Edinburgh Scotland, late 1800s--the descriptions of the city are so good.
Our heroine, Sarah Gilchrist, is one of a small group of female students newly admitted to Edinburgh's famous medical school. The recounting of all their trials and tribulations is well done. The young women have to put up with a lot, from both male students and male professors.
The mystery, the death of a young prostitute, is twisty.
Okay--I liked Sarah, in spite of her occasional situational blindness during her investigation. If jumping to conclusions were an Olympic event, she would be a gold medalist.
I do think the author is guilty of 'piling on' with regard to Sarah's background and horrible relatives. I hope matters improve for her in the next book.
Say what?-- I felt that the solution to the 'whodunnit' came out of nowhere. It was all very dramatic, to be sure, but I agreed with Sarah's surprise when the villain was revealed.
I will definitely read the next one, as I liked Sarah and her classmates. This one had some 'first book' problems, but I felt that the author was on the right track.
On the plus side: The setting is so atmospheric. Edinburgh Scotland, late 1800s--the descriptions of the city are so good.
Our heroine, Sarah Gilchrist, is one of a small group of female students newly admitted to Edinburgh's famous medical school. The recounting of all their trials and tribulations is well done. The young women have to put up with a lot, from both male students and male professors.
The mystery, the death of a young prostitute, is twisty.
Okay--I liked Sarah, in spite of her occasional situational blindness during her investigation. If jumping to conclusions were an Olympic event, she would be a gold medalist.
I do think the author is guilty of 'piling on' with regard to Sarah's background and horrible relatives. I hope matters improve for her in the next book.
Say what?-- I felt that the solution to the 'whodunnit' came out of nowhere. It was all very dramatic, to be sure, but I agreed with Sarah's surprise when the villain was revealed.
I will definitely read the next one, as I liked Sarah and her classmates. This one had some 'first book' problems, but I felt that the author was on the right track.
February 4, 2017
Thanks Pegasus Books and netgalley for this ARC.
Tantalizing first look at a new series that has everything I love in a historical mystery. Intrigue, rebellion, love, murder with a girl-power theme
Tantalizing first look at a new series that has everything I love in a historical mystery. Intrigue, rebellion, love, murder with a girl-power theme
April 13, 2017
3.5 review to follow.
January 16, 2022
Definitely a wonderful choice for my first book of the new year.
And upon my third reread I can say that I still love with all my heart.
And upon my third reread I can say that I still love with all my heart.
December 30, 2020
The description of this book had such promise and I truly wanted to like it: a murder mystery involving a 19th C woman studying medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland. I enjoy Victoriana, I'm interested in medicine, and I like a good mystery. But awkward plotting and fuzzy characterization got in the way. We are a third of the way through the book before hints about main character Sarah Gilchrist's past finally take shape, and then it's not clear if the actual injustices done to her hurt worse than the unkind sniping of her fellow women medical students. (If this is a "feminist mystery" why in the world are the other women so patently awful?) The mystery itself is VERY slow to develop, and Sarah's impulsive and poorly thought-out efforts to investigate are eye-rolling: barge into a brothel to ask the madam to fund a burial? Accuse a professor of outrageous behavior to his face? Make accusations about another professor to his wife, Sarah's only friend? Venture unaccompanied into opium dens and illicit boxing matches? (The author repeatedly brings up the topic of hysteria in women, but Sarah's actions might actually fit that bill.) Too bad.
November 1, 2017
I feel like I can't say anything I'm thinking without spoiling everything. So everything is going to get a spoiler tag.
May 30, 2017
OK, OK, I get it: Victorian women were repressed no matter which class they were from. Men were mostly misogynistic bastards who wanted women for sex or breeding, and woe betide any woman who tried to climb out of the pit of ignorance.
This book veers between earnest musings on how women were repressed forever and hysterical drama. I didn't much care for any of the characters, even my beloved Edinburgh seemed like a hell hole. And the whodunnit in the end was so tremendously implausible that it actually made me giggle. Sorry 'bout that...
I am sure this book will find its fanbase easily enough, but Victoriana is quite simply not my thing.
This book veers between earnest musings on how women were repressed forever and hysterical drama. I didn't much care for any of the characters, even my beloved Edinburgh seemed like a hell hole. And the whodunnit in the end was so tremendously implausible that it actually made me giggle. Sorry 'bout that...
I am sure this book will find its fanbase easily enough, but Victoriana is quite simply not my thing.
April 25, 2018
An unapologetically feminist historical fiction novel set in Victorian Edinburgh with a female lead that deconstructs every single aspect of the patriarchy not only to herself but also with other women and men.
I love Sarah. I love how brave and smart she is, and it shocked me how much I could relate to her. She feels so modern and full of anger; she just wants to be a doctor and not deal with any sexist bullshit.
I've found a new historical series to look forward to.
I love Sarah. I love how brave and smart she is, and it shocked me how much I could relate to her. She feels so modern and full of anger; she just wants to be a doctor and not deal with any sexist bullshit.
I've found a new historical series to look forward to.
January 3, 2018
Atmospheric and heady mystery set in Edinburgh's dark side in the 1890s.
February 15, 2021
Sarah Gilchrist has left London for Edinburgh, Scotland under a cloud of disrepute while also pursuing a most unsuitable profession- that of medicine- in 1892. The feisty young woman is almost incapable of minding her own business, restoring her reputation and aligning herself with the proper young marital material sought by the aunt and uncle in whose house she resides.
When a young prostitute’s body turns up as a subject for dissection, Sarah begins to probe in layers of society which she has previously never seen and to solve the mystery surrounding her murder.
Highly atmospheric, The Wages of Sin is a creative historical crime mystery, depicting the constraints upon women of its era and the highly stratified class system in the United Kingdom at the time. Particularly horrific is the case of Sarah herself, caught in a compromising situation not of her own doing, and the “rest cure” with surgical manifestations as well as family shunning. Society believed that women had poorly developed brains, and those tough souls who persisted into post secondary education were the butt of male sarcasm.
With persistent probing, the respect and gradual friendship of her peers Sarah is led to the crime’s solution- but not before she puts herself and others in dodgy circumstances.
Alternately darkly gothic and at times a grim portrait of poverty, the disadvantaged and the hopeless are contrasted against the upper classes’ devotion to the superficial and hypocritically moral, yet the novel still manages to entertain and enlighten.
My biggest beef is that the conclusion is rather less conclusive than a device to ready the reader for the next in the series- and therefore, I’m ready to follow its trails and trials willingly.
3.5 stars rounded up..
When a young prostitute’s body turns up as a subject for dissection, Sarah begins to probe in layers of society which she has previously never seen and to solve the mystery surrounding her murder.
Highly atmospheric, The Wages of Sin is a creative historical crime mystery, depicting the constraints upon women of its era and the highly stratified class system in the United Kingdom at the time. Particularly horrific is the case of Sarah herself, caught in a compromising situation not of her own doing, and the “rest cure” with surgical manifestations as well as family shunning. Society believed that women had poorly developed brains, and those tough souls who persisted into post secondary education were the butt of male sarcasm.
With persistent probing, the respect and gradual friendship of her peers Sarah is led to the crime’s solution- but not before she puts herself and others in dodgy circumstances.
Alternately darkly gothic and at times a grim portrait of poverty, the disadvantaged and the hopeless are contrasted against the upper classes’ devotion to the superficial and hypocritically moral, yet the novel still manages to entertain and enlighten.
My biggest beef is that the conclusion is rather less conclusive than a device to ready the reader for the next in the series- and therefore, I’m ready to follow its trails and trials willingly.
3.5 stars rounded up..
Read
March 14, 2017I don’t know whether it is a case of every novel being timed perfectly to have the most meaning in today’s political climate or a greater awareness of certain issues in general, but it does seem as if every novel I read lately is particularly important in illuminating the history behind current political viewpoints. The Wages of Sin certainly fits that bill. With its discussion of women, particularly poor women and their lack of choices when it comes to earning money, it covers women’s rights or lack thereof during the Victorian Era. Plus, Sarah’s foray as one of the first female medical students highlights the deep misogyny society still holds for women in traditionally male roles.
What I was expecting in this debut novel was not what I received. I expected an interesting story that provides a glimpse into life as a female medical student when women did not do that sort of thing. What I received was a compelling social commentary about so much more than just women in medical school. The mystery kept me intrigued, but it was Sarah’s past “sin” and her growing awareness of the dichotomy between her life of privilege versus most other women that made me sit up and take notice.
The Wages of Sin is not the story of a poor little rich girl becoming enlightened. This is a story meant to shine the spotlight on repressive societal norms and the need to rethink one’s position within that society. Sarah’s troubled past is pertinent to her time volunteering at the charitable hospital in one of the city’s worst slums and the patients she encounters there. Her eagerness to become a doctor is just another layer to the story during which she must reevaluate every rule she ever knew.
There is tremendous growth to Sarah which is wonderful to behold. To say much more would be to spoil a key plot point but one that is essential for understanding Sarah’s drive and commitment to helping the poor. She is not a perfect heroine however, and it is not a perfect story. In spite of her emancipation proclivities, Sarah is still someone who requires rescuing. Even worse, she has a tendency to let her emotions guide her rather than her intellect, which serves to prove the point of those who oppose the modernization of women. Prone to jumping to conclusions because of her active imagination without asking enough logical questions, her assumptions are not just annoying but also lead to a series of unnecessary confrontations that place her into the very same scenarios about which she was warned. She is a perfect candidate for the use of reverse psychology.
Still, Sarah’s weaknesses prove their own point in that they show how easily it is to accept societal norms at face value as well as how difficult it is to break free of them when it is the only thing you know. Then there is the issue of having others accept your breaking of those norms. Much of what Sarah observes and experiences as a women in the Victorian era will be familiar to modern female readers, and that is the most chilling aspect of the novel. That we continue to have the same discussions about reproductive rights and other feminist issues over 100 years later speaks volumes about societal norms and who establishes them. It also highlights the ongoing uphill battle we face for the next generation of girls.
The Wages of Sin is a pleasant surprise in that it has more gravitas and depth than I expected. It is much more than a murder mystery set in Victorian Edinburgh. It presents a somber portrait of women of all classes in that era and the stifling confines of what was deemed polite society. Sarah might be somewhat ruled by her emotional state, but she is a woman of action and that speaks volumes to her commitment to her beliefs. Kaite Welsh‘s debut novel makes her an author worth noticing.
What I was expecting in this debut novel was not what I received. I expected an interesting story that provides a glimpse into life as a female medical student when women did not do that sort of thing. What I received was a compelling social commentary about so much more than just women in medical school. The mystery kept me intrigued, but it was Sarah’s past “sin” and her growing awareness of the dichotomy between her life of privilege versus most other women that made me sit up and take notice.
The Wages of Sin is not the story of a poor little rich girl becoming enlightened. This is a story meant to shine the spotlight on repressive societal norms and the need to rethink one’s position within that society. Sarah’s troubled past is pertinent to her time volunteering at the charitable hospital in one of the city’s worst slums and the patients she encounters there. Her eagerness to become a doctor is just another layer to the story during which she must reevaluate every rule she ever knew.
There is tremendous growth to Sarah which is wonderful to behold. To say much more would be to spoil a key plot point but one that is essential for understanding Sarah’s drive and commitment to helping the poor. She is not a perfect heroine however, and it is not a perfect story. In spite of her emancipation proclivities, Sarah is still someone who requires rescuing. Even worse, she has a tendency to let her emotions guide her rather than her intellect, which serves to prove the point of those who oppose the modernization of women. Prone to jumping to conclusions because of her active imagination without asking enough logical questions, her assumptions are not just annoying but also lead to a series of unnecessary confrontations that place her into the very same scenarios about which she was warned. She is a perfect candidate for the use of reverse psychology.
Still, Sarah’s weaknesses prove their own point in that they show how easily it is to accept societal norms at face value as well as how difficult it is to break free of them when it is the only thing you know. Then there is the issue of having others accept your breaking of those norms. Much of what Sarah observes and experiences as a women in the Victorian era will be familiar to modern female readers, and that is the most chilling aspect of the novel. That we continue to have the same discussions about reproductive rights and other feminist issues over 100 years later speaks volumes about societal norms and who establishes them. It also highlights the ongoing uphill battle we face for the next generation of girls.
The Wages of Sin is a pleasant surprise in that it has more gravitas and depth than I expected. It is much more than a murder mystery set in Victorian Edinburgh. It presents a somber portrait of women of all classes in that era and the stifling confines of what was deemed polite society. Sarah might be somewhat ruled by her emotional state, but she is a woman of action and that speaks volumes to her commitment to her beliefs. Kaite Welsh‘s debut novel makes her an author worth noticing.
March 29, 2017
3.75 stars
Historical crime/mystery (with a touch of m/f romance). The first 3/4s was compelling, but I didn't enjoy the resolution. Apparently, this is the first of a series.
Historical crime/mystery (with a touch of m/f romance). The first 3/4s was compelling, but I didn't enjoy the resolution. Apparently, this is the first of a series.
March 6, 2017
It is 1892. Sarah is a social pariah, sent away from her home in London to her family in Edinburgh, where she has joined the first class of female medical students. Supplementing her official training with hands-on work, she meets Lucy, and feels a strange connection with her, and this will change her life.
The social and professional interactions between the genders (including women-women) and students-lecturers were well handled, and all the women themselves varied from the extreme to the moderate, as one would expect. We're not beaten over the head by Sarah's Past nor by backwards-looking morality. Instead, social issues from chaperonage to phossy jaw and rehabilitation are carefully introduced, none inadvertently taking precedence over the plot but all enhancing the overall feel of the book.
(Side note: I hadn't realized James Thin was already well established at this point! It's obvious the author knows Edinburgh well, and understands its history.)
I look forward to reading the next books in the series!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The social and professional interactions between the genders (including women-women) and students-lecturers were well handled, and all the women themselves varied from the extreme to the moderate, as one would expect. We're not beaten over the head by Sarah's Past nor by backwards-looking morality. Instead, social issues from chaperonage to phossy jaw and rehabilitation are carefully introduced, none inadvertently taking precedence over the plot but all enhancing the overall feel of the book.
(Side note: I hadn't realized James Thin was already well established at this point! It's obvious the author knows Edinburgh well, and understands its history.)
I look forward to reading the next books in the series!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 14, 2017
I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for a review copy of The Wages of Sin, a historical novel set in 1892, Edinburgh.
Sarah Gilchrist has offended Victorian propriety and is ostracised by her family but they have allowed her heart's desire to be one of the first women to study medicine at Edinburgh University. As a woman of dubious moral values she is encouraged by the aunt and uncle she is staying with to undertake Christian volunteer work which she does at a local hospital for the poor. She is shocked when she is asked to dissect the body of a young woman she met the previous day at the hospital, apparently a suicide. Sarah suspects murder and is determined to investigate.
I was really looking forward to this novel with it's enticing mix of feisty, forward looking protagonist, meaty crime and period detail but it did not meet my expectations as a crime novel. The period detail is excellent from the rigid Victorian moral code and the difficulties facing the "new women" of the medical faculty to the abject poverty and struggle for survival of the lowest but it is laboured at every turn and overshadows everything else in the novel. As a result the crime and its investigation seems secondary.
Sarah Gilchrist is an interesting character. Damned by society she cuts a solitary figure through no fault of her own - this is not explicitly stated but there are enough hints and allusions for the reader to understand what happened. It has given her a chip on her shoulder and a determination to succeed in her chosen career. She is not a particularly likeable character and while this is understandable it doesn't excuse her other flaw of jumping to conclusions with no proof.
The Wages of Sin is not a bad book and will interest readers who want period detail and character which are both well done but if you are more interested in the crime and its solution it is a bit slow moving and turgid.
Sarah Gilchrist has offended Victorian propriety and is ostracised by her family but they have allowed her heart's desire to be one of the first women to study medicine at Edinburgh University. As a woman of dubious moral values she is encouraged by the aunt and uncle she is staying with to undertake Christian volunteer work which she does at a local hospital for the poor. She is shocked when she is asked to dissect the body of a young woman she met the previous day at the hospital, apparently a suicide. Sarah suspects murder and is determined to investigate.
I was really looking forward to this novel with it's enticing mix of feisty, forward looking protagonist, meaty crime and period detail but it did not meet my expectations as a crime novel. The period detail is excellent from the rigid Victorian moral code and the difficulties facing the "new women" of the medical faculty to the abject poverty and struggle for survival of the lowest but it is laboured at every turn and overshadows everything else in the novel. As a result the crime and its investigation seems secondary.
Sarah Gilchrist is an interesting character. Damned by society she cuts a solitary figure through no fault of her own - this is not explicitly stated but there are enough hints and allusions for the reader to understand what happened. It has given her a chip on her shoulder and a determination to succeed in her chosen career. She is not a particularly likeable character and while this is understandable it doesn't excuse her other flaw of jumping to conclusions with no proof.
The Wages of Sin is not a bad book and will interest readers who want period detail and character which are both well done but if you are more interested in the crime and its solution it is a bit slow moving and turgid.
May 4, 2019
Interesting and atmospheric overall.
Fantastic sense of place in the Victorian Edinburgh setting, great premise in that Sarah is studying medicine in Edinburgh as she was shipped from London for getting her reputation tarnished, and becomes convinced that a prostitute patient at a clinic she's seen has been murdered.
For about 50% of the book the plot is mainly Sarah being convinced that Lucy, a pregnant prostitute, has been murdered and that everyone in her life is judging her because she was sent away from London ( in honesty they pretty much are) . This makes the pacing a little off compared to the second half of the book where truths, lies and Sarah's somewhat black and white views are challenged.
In Victorian society women could not be taught without chaperones, and so the chances of a woman talking alone with a man are pretty slight. This, and that Sarah, for reasons that become obvious, is untrusting of men in general underpin her thoughts on finding Lucys killer.
By the end of the book Sarah starts to develop as a person, which considering this is to be a series makes sense, but it's was her rigidity that spoiled this for me, and that while she was brave enough to travel through the slums of Edinburgh alone, she wouldn't talk directly to one of her professors. On the plus side the message of female solidarity was strong, and I'm sure that this will be explored further as well.
I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.
Fantastic sense of place in the Victorian Edinburgh setting, great premise in that Sarah is studying medicine in Edinburgh as she was shipped from London for getting her reputation tarnished, and becomes convinced that a prostitute patient at a clinic she's seen has been murdered.
For about 50% of the book the plot is mainly Sarah being convinced that Lucy, a pregnant prostitute, has been murdered and that everyone in her life is judging her because she was sent away from London ( in honesty they pretty much are) . This makes the pacing a little off compared to the second half of the book where truths, lies and Sarah's somewhat black and white views are challenged.
In Victorian society women could not be taught without chaperones, and so the chances of a woman talking alone with a man are pretty slight. This, and that Sarah, for reasons that become obvious, is untrusting of men in general underpin her thoughts on finding Lucys killer.
By the end of the book Sarah starts to develop as a person, which considering this is to be a series makes sense, but it's was her rigidity that spoiled this for me, and that while she was brave enough to travel through the slums of Edinburgh alone, she wouldn't talk directly to one of her professors. On the plus side the message of female solidarity was strong, and I'm sure that this will be explored further as well.
I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.
August 28, 2024
If you know anything about me at this point it should come as no surprise that I love a good book in the genre of historical fiction, set in the Victorian era, preferably in Scotland, with a thrilling murder mystery including a strong female protagonist and a bionic hero (a love story doesn’t hurt in between)
Thus, when I was on the hunt for some atmospheric reading whilst my recent stay in Scotland, “The Wages of Sin” by Kaite Welsh turned out to be right up my alley.
Set in the late 1800s in Edinburgh we follow the story of a so-called fallen woman. Sarah Gilchrist is a societal outcast in the search of a new meaning in life. Studying medicine she discovers a murder of a young woman that ends up in her mortuary. Keen on discovering what happened, the reader dives into the depths and darkness of Edinburgh’s past. And of course, the story would not be complete with a handsome sidekick in the form of Sarah’s professor.
I enjoyed everything about this story and could not put it aside. Not only did the author an amazing job with the historical research, but she manages to take the reader into her world.
The only critique I have, which is rather minor, is that some of the phrases and language tends to become a bit repetitive at times.
I already ordered the second book in the series and cannot wait to see where Sarah’s story will unfold and what will become of her (and her sidekick of course)
July 15, 2019
Welsh’s novel is hard. Her protagonist, Sarah Gilchrist, has suffered horribly. I won’t dwell too much on the details; suffice to say, she was sexually assaulted and suffered the cures for nymphomania. Torment at the hands of cruel doctors, pseudo-cures for a pseudo-condition that are really about punishing women. Edinburgh, which I love, doesn’t look good in Welsh’s novel. It’s puritanical, judgemental, and its poor and downtrodden live in the most miserable of conditions. Nevertheless, Sarah and her need to see justice done for the sex-worker Lucy won me over in the first few chapters. I knew that Sarah’s own story was such that she identified with Lucy, but I thought it made the novel, at least at first, stronger.
You're welcome to read the rest on my blog:
https://missbatesreadsromance.com/201...
You're welcome to read the rest on my blog:
https://missbatesreadsromance.com/201...
January 16, 2020
"Go back to your lecture hall, Sarah. Save your tears for your examination papers, because they won't do any good here. It may sound harsh, but it's the truth. You can do more for these women with a clear head than you can with a big heart. Your compassion may seem like a good thing now, but if you care too much, it will destroy you."
"How do I stop caring?"
I looked at Fiona, with her pale, drawn face and the evidence of sleepless nights written across it, and I wondered if she took her own advice or if she was kept awake with the litany of names of women she had lost.
"If I ever find out, I'll let you know."
~~Women studying medicine at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1892. This is very much the way Sarah and her classmates would have looked.
Meet Sarah Gilchrist, late of London, but now living in Edinburgh, Scotland with her aunt and uncle. The year is 1892, and she has fled her troubled past in London with the hopes of joining 11 other women as the first female class of students at the University of Edinburgh medical school. This first class is barely tolerated by their professors, and either ignored or belittled by the male medical students. Occasionally the belittling turns truly mean. The ladies soldier on, and focus on their studies.
Unfortunately though, the troubles Sarah left seem to have followed her to some degree. The other females treat her as if she is a pariah. "You think I'm tarnishing your precious reputations by even daring to show my face here. You claim to want to advance the cause of women's rights, but you're hypocrites, the lot of you. I know what the men say about all of us behind our backs, and sometimes not even that. Having a woman say it doesn't make it any truer. Are we to be nothing more than gossips, Alison? I thought we were trying to break away from those poison-filled drawing rooms, and those small lives that are only enlivened by inventing some scandal or other. Don't we have better things to do? No wonder then that men hate us, no wonder they think we're only capable of trivial thought. When have we ever proved them wrong?"
Sarah does find true companionship in her volunteer work at the Saint Giles' Infirmary for Women which serves the poor underbelly of Edinburgh. She meets poor factory workers, underfed and diseased children, and hopeless prostitutes. She also works side by side with passionate nurses and a lady doctor, Fiona, who is fast becoming a mentor to Sarah. They do everything they can for the under served women and children with the limited supplies and donations they receive. One prostitute in particular, Lucy, lingers in Sarah's mind--probably because she is still full of spunk and opinions. Imagine Sarah's surprise, then, to enter the dissection room a few weeks later to discover her cadaver is Lucy! She is shocked to her core, and begins an investigation with far reaching repercussions.
Bottom line: Welsh has written a historical mystery with a dash of medical drama. Her novel feels true to the Victorian setting, and the struggles of women as they worked towards emancipation and suffrage. So why only 2.5 stars? While I can appreciate Sarah's past, her goals, and her moxy, I have problems with how *realistic* her actions would be in 1892. It's like Welsh took a modern day young woman and put her in the Victorian setting. I was also puzzled about the sheer volume of danger that Sarah was willing to subject herself to, especially considering the past she narrowly escaped. My disbelief was very similar to the reaction I had reading The Pleasures of Men. Finally, a disproportionately large percentage of the novel was spent drumming in the point that women have no choices and are taken advantage of...to the point where it felt like an agenda more than a fictional read. I really wish that Welsh would have spent more time focusing on the struggles and *progress* of the first year female medical students. SHOW feminism in action, rather than lamenting on the problems with the status quo. Given a rating of 2.5 stars or "above average". Recommended for those like Victorian novels.
Another favorite quote: "One of the girls has been dispatched to find a grown-up and a policeman in that order. Until then, we shall simply wait until they arrive." She paused. "I don't suppose you can...do anything, can you?"
"I'm a first-year medical student, Aunt Emily. We don't study resurrection until our final year."
Stuff I learned: A review of the history of women in medicine on Wikipedia
The history of the University of Edinburgh which confirms that the first female medical student class graduated in 1893.
And finally, for those who want to read a book about pioneering women in medicine...without all the hysteria of this offering, might I suggest The Making of a Woman Surgeon which chronicles the struggles of female surgical residents in the late 1970's.
"How do I stop caring?"
I looked at Fiona, with her pale, drawn face and the evidence of sleepless nights written across it, and I wondered if she took her own advice or if she was kept awake with the litany of names of women she had lost.
"If I ever find out, I'll let you know."
~~Women studying medicine at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1892. This is very much the way Sarah and her classmates would have looked.
Meet Sarah Gilchrist, late of London, but now living in Edinburgh, Scotland with her aunt and uncle. The year is 1892, and she has fled her troubled past in London with the hopes of joining 11 other women as the first female class of students at the University of Edinburgh medical school. This first class is barely tolerated by their professors, and either ignored or belittled by the male medical students. Occasionally the belittling turns truly mean. The ladies soldier on, and focus on their studies.
Unfortunately though, the troubles Sarah left seem to have followed her to some degree. The other females treat her as if she is a pariah. "You think I'm tarnishing your precious reputations by even daring to show my face here. You claim to want to advance the cause of women's rights, but you're hypocrites, the lot of you. I know what the men say about all of us behind our backs, and sometimes not even that. Having a woman say it doesn't make it any truer. Are we to be nothing more than gossips, Alison? I thought we were trying to break away from those poison-filled drawing rooms, and those small lives that are only enlivened by inventing some scandal or other. Don't we have better things to do? No wonder then that men hate us, no wonder they think we're only capable of trivial thought. When have we ever proved them wrong?"
Sarah does find true companionship in her volunteer work at the Saint Giles' Infirmary for Women which serves the poor underbelly of Edinburgh. She meets poor factory workers, underfed and diseased children, and hopeless prostitutes. She also works side by side with passionate nurses and a lady doctor, Fiona, who is fast becoming a mentor to Sarah. They do everything they can for the under served women and children with the limited supplies and donations they receive. One prostitute in particular, Lucy, lingers in Sarah's mind--probably because she is still full of spunk and opinions. Imagine Sarah's surprise, then, to enter the dissection room a few weeks later to discover her cadaver is Lucy! She is shocked to her core, and begins an investigation with far reaching repercussions.
Bottom line: Welsh has written a historical mystery with a dash of medical drama. Her novel feels true to the Victorian setting, and the struggles of women as they worked towards emancipation and suffrage. So why only 2.5 stars? While I can appreciate Sarah's past, her goals, and her moxy, I have problems with how *realistic* her actions would be in 1892. It's like Welsh took a modern day young woman and put her in the Victorian setting. I was also puzzled about the sheer volume of danger that Sarah was willing to subject herself to, especially considering the past she narrowly escaped. My disbelief was very similar to the reaction I had reading The Pleasures of Men. Finally, a disproportionately large percentage of the novel was spent drumming in the point that women have no choices and are taken advantage of...to the point where it felt like an agenda more than a fictional read. I really wish that Welsh would have spent more time focusing on the struggles and *progress* of the first year female medical students. SHOW feminism in action, rather than lamenting on the problems with the status quo. Given a rating of 2.5 stars or "above average". Recommended for those like Victorian novels.
Another favorite quote: "One of the girls has been dispatched to find a grown-up and a policeman in that order. Until then, we shall simply wait until they arrive." She paused. "I don't suppose you can...do anything, can you?"
"I'm a first-year medical student, Aunt Emily. We don't study resurrection until our final year."
Stuff I learned: A review of the history of women in medicine on Wikipedia
The history of the University of Edinburgh which confirms that the first female medical student class graduated in 1893.
And finally, for those who want to read a book about pioneering women in medicine...without all the hysteria of this offering, might I suggest The Making of a Woman Surgeon which chronicles the struggles of female surgical residents in the late 1970's.
December 10, 2017
This one's good. Female lead training to be a doctor in the late 19th century and ends up trying to solve a murder. Can we have a sequel please?
July 9, 2017
I enjoyed The Wages of Sin! It was a fun, light read with a little bit of feminism thrown in for good measure. However, I'm not sure it was a particularly well-written book.
Sarah was an interesting protagonist. In a time when women were fighting tooth and nail to gain even the most basic of rights, they were still expected to be demure, modest, Christian housewives. Sarah is none of those things. On top of that, she is followed by a scandal. What most people don't know is that she was raped by a gentleman. This experience gave Sarah a unique perspective on the society surrounding her, and a particular empathy for poor women forced to turn to prostitution.
However, Sarah (and most characters) weren't written particularly consistently. One chapter Sarah would be putting her life and virtue at risk to investigate the death of a prostitute, and the next she would be saying that she needed to put her own needs, especially finishing medical school, first. She would say that the thought of upsetting her mother again was unbearable in the same sentence as planning to upset her mother again. Clearly the thought can't be that unbearable! She destroys the relationship with her only friend beyond repair, only for it to be mysteriously fixed at the end of the novel by ... nothing.
While the time period was well-researched and masterfully recounted, it was also inconsistent. Welsh's descriptions of the time period were very convincing, and I feel that I have a good idea what it would have been like to be a woman and to be a medical student in the late 1800s. However, occasionally modern words, phrases, or ideas would squirm their way in. In particular I found this theme of rape to be a little unrealistic. The idea that a young gentleman in this era would have raped, in his own house, a gentlewoman of good fortune and standing, a potential wife, didn't really work for me. A servant, sure, I wouldn't put any man past it. But it just seemed as if Welsh wanted to make a statement about rape, but couldn't find a more realistic way to get it in there.
Finally, The Wages of Sin was labeled as a mystery novel, but the mystery played only a very small part in the book. Sarah is a terrible sleuth and manages to find out basically nothing. The mystery is solved, in the end, when the murderer seeks Sarah out, not the other way around. Another character close to the end of the novel indicates that they are also investigating, and that they have significant sleuthing experience, but they also find out pretty much nothing. Instead this novel focused mainly on gossip, Sarah's difficulty leaving her scandal behind, her strained relationship with her family, and her interest in medical school. I think the mystery label was misleading. Historical fiction would have been more accurate.
Obviously these inconsistencies and modern sensibilities didn't ruin the book for me. I very much enjoyed it. It's a quick-paced semi-thriller that I think any lover of historical fiction would enjoy. Welsh set herself up well for a sequel, which I will definitely be looking out for. I want to know what becomes of Sarah Gilchrist!
Sarah was an interesting protagonist. In a time when women were fighting tooth and nail to gain even the most basic of rights, they were still expected to be demure, modest, Christian housewives. Sarah is none of those things. On top of that, she is followed by a scandal. What most people don't know is that she was raped by a gentleman. This experience gave Sarah a unique perspective on the society surrounding her, and a particular empathy for poor women forced to turn to prostitution.
However, Sarah (and most characters) weren't written particularly consistently. One chapter Sarah would be putting her life and virtue at risk to investigate the death of a prostitute, and the next she would be saying that she needed to put her own needs, especially finishing medical school, first. She would say that the thought of upsetting her mother again was unbearable in the same sentence as planning to upset her mother again. Clearly the thought can't be that unbearable! She destroys the relationship with her only friend beyond repair, only for it to be mysteriously fixed at the end of the novel by ... nothing.
While the time period was well-researched and masterfully recounted, it was also inconsistent. Welsh's descriptions of the time period were very convincing, and I feel that I have a good idea what it would have been like to be a woman and to be a medical student in the late 1800s. However, occasionally modern words, phrases, or ideas would squirm their way in. In particular I found this theme of rape to be a little unrealistic. The idea that a young gentleman in this era would have raped, in his own house, a gentlewoman of good fortune and standing, a potential wife, didn't really work for me. A servant, sure, I wouldn't put any man past it. But it just seemed as if Welsh wanted to make a statement about rape, but couldn't find a more realistic way to get it in there.
Finally, The Wages of Sin was labeled as a mystery novel, but the mystery played only a very small part in the book. Sarah is a terrible sleuth and manages to find out basically nothing. The mystery is solved, in the end, when the murderer seeks Sarah out, not the other way around. Another character close to the end of the novel indicates that they are also investigating, and that they have significant sleuthing experience, but they also find out pretty much nothing. Instead this novel focused mainly on gossip, Sarah's difficulty leaving her scandal behind, her strained relationship with her family, and her interest in medical school. I think the mystery label was misleading. Historical fiction would have been more accurate.
Obviously these inconsistencies and modern sensibilities didn't ruin the book for me. I very much enjoyed it. It's a quick-paced semi-thriller that I think any lover of historical fiction would enjoy. Welsh set herself up well for a sequel, which I will definitely be looking out for. I want to know what becomes of Sarah Gilchrist!
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