There’s a fine line between kill and cure.Edinburgh, 1849. Despite Edinburgh being at the forefront of modern medicine, hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. But it is not just the deaths that dismay the esteemed Dr James Simpson. A whispering campaign seeks to blame him for the death of a patient in suspicious circumstances.Simpson’s … protégé Will Raven and former housemaid Sarah Fisher are determined to clear their patron’s name. But with Raven battling against the dark side of his own nature, and Sarah endeavouring to expand her own medical knowledge beyond what society deems acceptable for a woman, the pair struggle to understand the cause of the deaths.Will and Sarah must unite and plunge into Edinburgh’s deadliest streets to clear Simpson’s name. But soon they discover that the true cause of these deaths has evaded suspicion purely because it is so unthinkable.
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Read 12.27.2021
I really like this series and am really hoping there will be more books, especially after the way this one ended – I really need to know more about Will Raven, Sarah Fisher and Dr. Simpson. They are an intriguing bunch.
This is a much darker book than the first one [with Will again finding himself in a precarious position while in Berlin with his friend Henry] and there are moments where I had to stop and take a breath as it was so dark and rather filled with despair. Life in 1850 Edinburgh was not easy, not even if you were a Doctor in good standing and that is shown over and over in this story. And there are so many things that aren’t as they seem that you often will feel like your head is just swimming trying to figure it all out. And a slight warning – there are moments of real grossness in this book [as with the last one as well]. 1850 Edinburgh was not clean and neither was doctoring. This was just on the cusp of Lister and disinfectant and the washing of ones hands with carbolic acid to cleanse them [and prevent the transfer of “stuff”] and there is much talk about that and putrefaction and other lovely thing. I am personally not grossed out by such talk typically, but there were absolutely moments where I said out loud “I could have gone my WHOLE life without knowing that”.
I cannot really go into the story too much here because this is a true mystery. You are meant to try and figure out what is going on. The narration was lovely because it was three narrators so you know there is a third party that is trying to mess things up, and all three narrators do an excellent job of depicting life in that time. It is absolutely a story that you need to read with little information; figuring it all out is half the fun. It is an excellent read and I am so glad I came across these books.
Thank you to NetGalley, Ambrose Parry, and Canongate/Black Thorn for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.25/5
I enjoyed the first in series so decided to continue with this one and am glad I did.
Set in 1849 Edinburgh this one follows Will Raven (a young medical student and protégé of Dr. James Simpson) and Sarah Fisher (a housemaid/doctor’s assistant to Dr. Simpson) as they investigate a series of random seemingly unconnected deaths throughout the city.
Adding to the mix, the relationship between Raven and Sarah becomes further complicated as she weds while he is away studying.
Just a word of caution, this series is dark, gritty and unflinching in its depiction of medical maladies/treatments/deaths during this time.
Enjoyable series!
Absorbing, informative, and remarkably atmospheric!
The Art of Dying is a rich, alluring tale that takes us back to Victorian Edinburgh and into the life of Will Raven, a young doctor returning from travelling aboard to accept the position of assistant to Dr James Simpson, a doctor infamous for using chloroform while treating patients. But when multiple people start to die, and others begin to question Dr Simpson’s abilities, Will, along with the help of the woman he let get away, Sarah Fisher, will have to quickly uncover what’s actually plaguing the city before Dr Simpson’s reputation is completely and irreversibly shattered.
The prose is smooth and authentic. The characters are steadfast, inquisitive, and clever. And the plot is a riveting, suspenseful tale of life, loss, duty, friendship, corruption, manipulation, deception, violence, murder, and the evolution and procedures of early medicine, especially in the field of obstetrics.
Overall, The Art of Dying is a beautifully written, mysterious, fascinating tale that grabbed me from the very start and did such an exceptional job of blending historical facts with compelling fiction I can honestly say I was enthralled, surprised, and thoroughly impressed.
A pacey, historical medical drama in Edinburgh by a husband and wife team – an excellent read!
This book dazzled me from the beginning. I plunged into 1850 Edinburgh so deeply that it was difficult to emerge from under the authors’ spell. I didn’t want to stop reading to eat dinner and dessert with my family. Even chocolate cake couldn’t overcome the power of this book. I gobbled up my cake in the 21st century and rushed back to the 19th century as quickly as possible. And then I was back in Edinburgh . . .
The dark streets where women didn’t dare walk. The sordid slums of the poor and beautifully-decorated parlors of the wealthy.
The social hierarchy that dictated who could marry whom. The scandal when a brave few threw off societal restraints and married for love.
The ever-present threat of dying in childbirth. The number of children who died in infancy or early childhood. The list goes on.
I felt like I was physically there. More importantly, I was emotionally present. The tumultuous emotions swirling in the atmosphere were my emotions, the characters existed in my life, and I cared about them deeply.
I immediately liked both Sarah Fisher Banks and Will Raven. (He’s usually called Raven in the book). Sarah is smart, eager to learn about medicine, and chaffs under the social dictates for her gender. Though she and Will were romantically involved in the previous book, he refused to marry someone beneath his social class and fled to Europe to study medicine. In the meantime, she married Archie Banks, a doctor with quite egalitarian views who encourages her to study medicine.
When Dr Simpson’s reputation is smeared, Raven and Sarah butt heads over the proper response. She wants to investigate; he wants to stay out of it. I enjoyed watching the two spar over this and other issues. Even when they team up, the two don’t always work well together. Both have secrets. Both are stubborn and have huge blind spots. And Sarah’s marriage puts a barrier between them. When they need to be in agreement, too often they miss clues because they interpret them in different ways. This gives their unseen enemy an advantage, an advantage that the killer will exploit . . .
At points, the killer narrates from a first person point of view. Though it soon becomes obvious who this woman is, I didn’t work out how all of the elements fit together until the climax. Her voice commanded my attention. She demanded that I see her impoverished childhood, abused teenage years, the way she became who she was, even when I wanted to look away.
The Art of Dying is a beautifully-written historical mystery. The book captivated me, sweeping me away with its masterful prose, deep characters, and tight control of the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed it! An enthusiastic 5 stars.
(Thanks to Netgalley and BlackThorn press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)