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A Thrilling Historical Novel of the Dark Side of Gilded Age New York City
by Amanda Skenandore
From acclaimed author and registered nurse Amanda Skenandore, a fascinating historical novel based on the little-known story of America's first nursing school, as a young female grifter in 1880s New York evades the police by conning her way into Bellevue Hospital's training school for nurses…
Based on Florence Nightingale's nursing principles, Bellevue is the first school of its kind in the country. Where once nurses were assumed to be ignorant and unskilled, Bellevue prizes discipline, intellect, and moral character, and only young women of good breeding need apply. At first, Una balks at her prim classmates and the doctors' endless commands. Yet life on the streets has prepared her for the horrors of injury and disease found on the wards, and she slowly gains friendship and self-respect.
Just as she finds her footing, Una's suspicions about a patient's death put her at risk of exposure, and will force her to choose between her instinct for self-preservation, and exposing her identity in order to save others.
Amanda Skenandore brings her medical expertise to a page-turning story that explores the evolution of modern nursing—including the grisly realities of nineteenth-century medicine—as seen through the eyes of an intriguing and dynamic heroine.
You can see the full discussion in our legacy forum here. This discussion will contain spoilers!
Some of the recent comments posted about The Nurse's Secret:
Are Conor's feelings of blame and contempt of lower classes shared to this day? How are they evident in society?
Wow! Thanks for sharing Katherine Boo's quote. I agree with so many of the sentiments expressed about the lack of compassion and understanding. In my more generous moments, I think that Conor's sentiments are an expression of his own ... - sprokope
Did any of the qualifications required to apply to the Bellevue Nurse Training School surprise you?
I knew about the anti-Catholic sentiment but I hadn't known about the exclusion of divorced women. Thanks for sharing that bit of information Amanda. I thought that the requirements were fairly standard for the time. Nursing was working very ... - sprokope
Do you think Edwin and Una are a good fit for each other? Do you think their relationship will endure?
I think that you have to have the ability to suspend your disbelief to buy into the Edwin and Una match. Although I do have to say that I enjoy a happily ever after, I think that there are some pretty big obstacles (family, education) to ... - sprokope
Do you think Una's survival skills make her immoral? Did you find her to be a likable character?
I think there is nothing immoral about survival. Until you’re in the exact situation, it’s hard to cast such a harsh judgement. I think she did her best to survive and that’s all she could do. - ashleighp
Great wealth and extreme poverty existed side by side in Gilded Age New York. How was this reflected in the novel? Does the same degree of class stratification exist today?
I think the gap between rich and poor is widening and the middle class is being pinched down into the poorer class. I think this has been and will always be a method of control by any elite group. I think it’s easy to look back on period pieces... - ashleighp
"A spellbinding story, a vividly drawn setting, and characters that leap off the pages. This is historical fiction at its finest!" – Sara Ackerman, USA Today bestselling author of The Codebreaker's Secret
"Scrupulous in her research and practically clairvoyant in her choice of urgent subjects — from the Indigenous boarding schools of her first novel to the disease and quarantine of The Second Life of Mirielle West — historical novelist Amanda Skenandore has quietly become one of the valley's finest authors." —The Las Vegas Review Journal
This information about The Nurse's Secret was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amanda Skenandore is an award-winning author of historical fiction and a registered nurse. Her debut novel, Between Earth and Sky, was winner of the American Library Association's RUSA Reading List Award and her third novel, The Second Life of Mirielle West, was the 2023 Silicon Valley Reads Selection, an Apple Best Books of the Month and a Hoopla Book Club Pick. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and can be found online at AmandaSkenandore.com.
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