Back in 1881, not many women went to Whitsitt College. This was not going to stop Beth Carrington from trying to become a doctor. Even the women who did go to college didn't study medicine. But Beth has two goals: become a doctor and start a women's fraternity. Both turn out to be easier said than done. As the only girl in her class, Beth's professes and fellow students think she's wasting her time, and should be in school to become a receptionist like other women. But nothing will stop Beth from achieving her goals. She decides to find other women who have the same goals and tenacity to succeed as she does, and they all want to make their women's fraternity a reality.
Beth runs into several roadblocks along the way. Her dear family friend, Will Buchanan and his fraternity brother Grant Richardson, both try to talk her out of her women's fraternity idea. Grant, Iota Gamma fraternity president and related to the founders of the college, has fallen hard for Beth, and reluctantly promises to do what he can to help her get her organization recognized. He uses his connections to arrange for a meeting with the school board. However, because the board is made up of all men, there was no way they would allow a group of women to meet socially on campus. Beth takes matters into her own hands, and the women have secret meetings of Beta Xi Beta women's fraternity. But when she's caught, Beth faces suspension from school, as well as getting the rest of her fraternity sisters in trouble, too. Can Beth truly trust the people who claim to support her? And will she fulfill her dreams at Whitsitt College?
Joy Callaway writes a great book. It is amazing that SECRET SISTERS.
A Paperback Original
From the author of The Fifth Avenue Artists Society comes
this unforgettable historical novel based on the founding
of the countryβs first sororities.
Illinois, 1881: Whitsitt College sophomore Beth Carrington
has two goals to fulfill by the time she graduates: obtain
a medical degree, and establish a womenβs fraternity, Beta
Xi Beta, that will help young women like herself to
connect with and support one another while attending the
male-dominated Whitsitt.
Neither is an easy task. The sole female student in the
physiciansβ program, Beth is constantly called out by her
professors and peers for having the audacity not to
concentrate on a more βfittingβ subject like secretarial
studies. Meanwhile, secret organizations are off-limits,
and simply by crowding together in a dank basement room
and creating a sense of camaraderie, she and her small
group of fraternity sisters risk expulsion.
In order to have the fraternity recognized, she knows she
needs help. She turns to the most powerful student on
campus: senior Grant Richardson, Iota Gamma fraternity
president and the scion of a Whitsitt familyβa man sheβs
only acquainted with because of her longstanding
friendship with his fraternity brother Will Buchannan.
Staunchly traditional, Grant doesnβt see the purpose of
this womenβs organization, but captivated by Beth, he
agrees to give her a helping hand. What she doesnβt know
is how many will stop at nothing to keep her burgeoning
organization out of the record booksβand who she can
actually trust along the way.
As Beth fights for her beloved Beta Xi Beta to be
recognized, she will uncover deep secrets about the
college and those who surround her, and will have to put
both love and friendship on the line so that history can
be made.
No excerpt available.
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