THE CAPE DOCTOR - E.J. Levy


Dr. James Miranda Barry was born in 1789 in Cork, Ireland.

Dr. James Miranda Barry was born female, and named Margaret. But Margaret was tutored by family friends and she had shown to have a brilliant mind. But what can a woman in 18th Century Ireland do? To pursue an education, Margaret begins to change her identity to become James. She attends Edinburgh University (forbidden to women) to earn a medical degree. Although she has practiced how to walk, stand, and talk as a male, and she binds her chest, she still gets some unwanted attention from others because her small frame. Despite her intellect, her teachers, and later those she works with, think s/he is too young to be as accomplished as s/he is.

Despite her small frame and the secret she hides, Dr. Barry is not one to back down from an argument or from attempting to right wrongs. Her biggest concern is the (lack of) treatment and medical care for slaves. She gets a station as physician in Cape Town where she is befriended by the governor.

Dr. Barry and the governor (who learns her true identity) become romantically involved, but despite their best attempts to keep it a secret, rumors begin to fly, and those rumors are of a homosexual relationship. Their lives get even more complicated when Dr. Barry is pregnant and must make some difficult decisions.

This is the second historical fiction novel of a woman doctor having to hide her identity or skills that I've read in the past few months. The similarities are obvious - strong, smart women who are driven to study and practice medicine but must hide either their skills or their identity to succeed. 

But what is different with The Cape Doctor is that Dr. Barry constantly flirts with danger by her aggressive personality. Rather than blending in and quietly working away in the background, Dr. Barry challenges and pushes the men in power.

She is not genteel and I must admit to a male reader bias - I was looking for 'signs' of feminine behavior (personality - not biology).  I did not find her 'likeable' and I frankly don't know if it's because she didn't conform to an expectation, or if she was just not a likeable person.

But while I didn't care for the character of Dr. Barry, I did find the journey fascinating and engaging, and that this is based on an actual person and events is both sad (that women have been [and still are] treated this way, and empowering that some have been determined enough to find ways to work with their skills and knowledge despite the obstacles in their path.

Looking for a good book? The Cape Doctor by E.J. Levy is a historical fiction novel based on true events of a woman who becomes a doctor in the late 18th/early 19th century. It is very well written and provides an intriguing story, though we never feel as though we get 'close' to the protagonist.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Cape Doctor

author: E.J. Levy

publisher: Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 031653658X

hardcover, 352 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more