I love a book that transports me, one that immerses me in another time and place. But I also love a book that makes me think. Here are five summer reads that do both:
The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan
A gripping tale of friendship and secrets.
Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman
One of my favorite WWII historicals set in beautiful Hawaii.
Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner
An oldie but goodie.
Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott
A delicious retelling of Dangerous Liaisons.
A Door Between Us by Ehsaneh Sadr
A story of hope and courage set against the tumultuous 2009 Iranian elections.
From acclaimed author and registered nurse Amanda Skenandore, The Alienist meets The Light of Luna Park in 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…
“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
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.
Reprinted with permission from Kensington Books.
