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. To start with, 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 susceptible to exposure, and will force her to make a choice from her instinct for self-preservation, and exposing her identity with a purpose to save others.
Amanda Skenandore brings her medical expertise to a page-turning story that explores the evolution of up to date nursing—including the grisly realities of nineteenth-century medicine—as seen through the eyes of an intriguing and dynamic heroine.
PRAISE FOR AMANDA SKENANDORE’S
THE SECOND LIFE OF MIRIELLE WEST“In this superior historical, the creator’s diligent research, in addition to her empathetic depiction of those subjected to forced medical isolation, make this a winner.” —
Publishers Weekly
