"Get out," he said.
"I'm staying."
"I don't need you."
"Don't be a fool. You need someone."
"Not you."
The boy lifted his head from the table. "Don't you talk like that to this nice lady," he slurred.

A decision had to be made.  This argument occurred during the United States Civil War, 1861-1865, in the historical fiction My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira.  Her protagonist, Mary Sutter is a young midwife determined to become a surgeon in nineteenth century America, when a woman doctor was an anomaly.  But the times were not ordinary...

The country was tearing itself apart.  Walking into this maelstrom comes Mary Sutter from Albany, New York.  She sets off to the one place that would test anyone's endurance, Washington City, in the sweltering summer of 1861.

Not content to remain a midwife, Sutter's decision would affect the lives of those around her.  What Mary would find in the southern capital would be far different from placid Albany. Two men would fall in love with her but they have their own back-stories to tell.

To add to the tension of the novel, Mary's twin sister is ready to give birth to her first child.  Begging her to come home was their mother Amelia, also a midwife.

What will Mary do and how will she follow her dream to become a surgeon? You have to read the book to find out.

Garnering outstanding reviews, My Name is Mary Sutter is Robin Oliveira's first book.  Read Ms. Oliveira's inspiration for the novel.   

Interested in learning more about medicine, women nurses and physicians during this period in history?  Consider the following books:

Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine - Ira M. Rutkow
Doctors in Blue; the Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War - George Worthington Adams 
Medicine Women: the Story of Early American Women Doctors - Cathy Luchetti
A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War - Stephen B. Oates