#SuspenseMonday
A page-turning tale of murder, subversion and vice
in which a female medical student in Victorian Edinburgh is
drawn into a murder investigation when she recognizes one of
the corpses in her anatomy lecture.
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,
andβperhaps worst of allβher 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
cityβs ramshackle charitable hospitals for additional
training. The St Gilesβ 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 Sarahβs 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 patientβs, 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
Edinburghβs dank alleyways, bawdy houses and fight clubs,
Sarah comes closer and closer to uncovering one of
Edinburghβs most lucrative trades, and, in doing so, puts
her own life at riskβ¦
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.
Start Reading THE WAGES OF SIN Now
Our Past Week of Fresh Picks
|
© 2003-2026