... a moving Civil War novel about a young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon, says the blurb. I was hesitant to read this novel. What else could be expected than the gritty, dark tale of a young woman who forced her way into the civil war in her desire to become a surgeon?I needed to get the TBR-list reduced. It was time to face this particular psychological war of words. It took more than just courage and determination to get me hooked and made me stay. Devastating, raw, and brutal. The ...

This story is set during the first two years of the Civil War (1861-1862). The historical details of the Civil War are enriched by the facts of how inadequate medicine was at the time.Mary Sutter, 21, is a midwife in Albany, NY. She petitions to be admitted to the Albany Medical College, but is rejected, only because she is a woman. She asks a local surgeon, James Blevens, to train her as she dreams of being a surgeon, but response is the same. She can’t be a surgeon as a woman.In Washington Cit...

Review soon --short one I hope lol LOVED IT! Update: Mary Sutter is determined and tenacious to become more than just a midwife. She wants to learn- she’s sincerely fascinated with medicine...details among details. The obstacles for a woman to be accepted into medical school - to become a doctor - let alone a surgeon- were tenfolds more than today.WE ALREADY KNEW THAT....‘But’.....What I didn’t know .....is that debut author: Robin Oliveira, would transport me back to a period of history and giv...

3.5 starsI enjoyed this intriguing and informative Civil War novel centered around the strong-willed and stubborn character of Mary Sutter. Sutter is a midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon, an unheard of occupation for a woman during that time. She is turned away by experienced surgeons who she wishes to shadow and learn from. Her strong determination refuses to accept being denied and drives her to travel into the battlefields to face and assist the injured and dying soldiers head-on. I rea...

The story of a very independent and strong-willed woman set in the time of the Civil War. Mary Sutter from Albany, N.Y., is a midwife who wants to become a surgeon--an idea that most men at that time felt was an impossibility. But the war with its horrendous losses gives Mary her opportunity, first to become a nurse, and, finally, a surgeon. I read many of the reviews which criticized the book as too slow. But this was to give us a better understanding of the characters. The book also is excelle...

***Review written in 2013, one of my all time favorites***This remarkable book is the story of one young woman's desire to be a doctor in the late 1800's and early 1900. She and her mother are midwives, well renowned in the Albany NY area. Her father was a great railroad entrepreneur and so they were very well off. They were a close family, a twin sister Jenny and a brother Christian rounded out the family. At the outset of the novel Mary has been trying and trying to no avail to enter medical s...

I am feeling a bit torn about how I feel about My Name is Mary Sutter. On the one hand I love a book with a strong-willed female protagonist – and this definitely had that. On the other hand, war books are hard for me to emotionally stomach – since I have a brother in the Army. My Name is Marry Sutter is about an able-bodied young midwife who, during the American Civil war, is trying to fulfill a life-long ambition to become a doctor, more specifically a surgeon. She faces disappointment and se...

This is the type of book that I should have LOVED. Takes place in the Civil War era, which I used to obsessed with. Main character is a strong-willed woman who wants to be a doctor more than anything. Yep. Guess what? This book sucks. It is so incredibly slow. The war doesn't even start until halfway through the novel. We focus on 3.5 different main characters at random times and in random places. At one point the story veers away from Mary for several chapters, and you are left to wonder ... wh...

The book is told from a Northern, mostly female perspective. According to Robin, the book centers about three points:1. Medicine – particularly the start of nursing in America2. Unpreparedness – how the North was caught off guard by the realities of war3. Drama – a family saga with at least three love trianglesIt is worth reading if you like books set in this era. Robin did her research. And you will learn a fair amount about medicine, surgery, and the pioneering nurses of that time. There are s...

This novel was truly wonderful. Mary Sutter, the strong heroine, is a woman to be both admired and pitied. She wants a life she can not have and when she does follow her dream it becomes the nightmare of the Civil War. Robin Olivera has done a remarkable job of writing that is able to capture your imagination. In fact many of the war scenes described are not for the faint of heart. Mary succeeds not only as a surgeon in the end, but also as a woman who finally finds the peace and the love of a g...