Women of Magdalene - poole-carter.info


	After years of serving as a wartime surgeon, Robert Mallory is accustomed to soldiers missing limbs. At the Magdalene Ladies Lunatic Asylum, he learns that the women are missing pieces, not of their bodies, but of their lives. And he finds that his employer, Dr. Kingston, is also missing a part of himself: a conscience. As Robert comes closer to understanding Kingston's part in the cruel treatment and sudden deaths of certain patients, Kingston abruptly sends him away. Robert must escort a patient, Effie Rampling, to New Orleans, and the journey transforms them both. *Cover design by Kam Wai Yu
Booklist - "A fine mix of thriller, historical fiction and Southern Gothic." Issue: September 15, 2007 Dr. Robert Mallory cut his teeth as a medic during the Civil War. After the war, he agrees to serve as a general practitioner at Louisiana’s Magdalene Ladies’ Asylum, run by a Dr. Kingston, a former of colleague of Mallory’s father. On his way there, Mallory discovers a woman’s body washed up in a river. The victim turns out to have been a patient at Magdalene’s, a fact that draws only a calloused reaction from Dr. Kingston. Soon Mallory realizes that his new boss is an indifferent, cruel man and that the asylum is a truly horrific place. As still more dead bodies emerge, it becomes apparent that there is something more sinister going on at Magdalene’s than simple mistreatment of the unfortunate—and that the institution may even hold the answer to the mysterious death of his own sister. Poole-Carter has captured the post–Civil War South with candor and grace, and though Mallory’s saintliness seems a bit contrived early on, a surprising plot twist proves him to be utterly human indeed. A fine mix of thriller, historical fiction, and Southern Gothic. — Mary Frances Wilkens Rosemary Poole-Carter sets her engrossing and often shocking new novel just after the Civil War in the evocative and sensuous atmosphere of south Louisiana. This is a compassionate and moving account of a young doctor's encounter with violence and great love in desperate times. Fast-paced and compelling, you won't want to miss this book! - Christine Wiltz, author of The Last Madam: A Life in theNew Orleans Underworld "Compelling Tale" Rosemary Poole-Carter captures in eloquent prose the compelling tale of a doctor's journey at the end of the Civil War as he seeks peace in a world still full of violence." - John Biguenet, author of Oyster and The Torturer's Apprentice