Robin OliveiraCritiques

Mansplaining, misogyny, and #metoo in the late 1800's

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Robin Oliveira's historical novel is a sequel of sorts to [b:My Name is Mary Sutter|7352053|My Name is Mary Sutter|Robin Oliveira|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1263584183s/7352053.jpg|9116984], and picks up about 15 years after the end of the Civil War. (Note: [b:Winter Sisters|35876392|Winter Sisters|Robin Oliveira|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501506243s/35876392.jpg|57394166] can be read as a stand-alone without any loss of context).

Following a devastating blizzard, two young girls are missing and presumed dead. Months later, the girls reappear. Their aunt, Dr. Mary Stipp (nee Sutter), discovers they have experienced unspeakable trauma. What follows is Oliveira's interpretation of how an investigation and court case might have been conducted in an era when the authority of female doctors wasn't taken seriously, and the age of consent was 10 (yes, you read that correctly, and it is historically accurate).

While the story is interesting in its own right, Oliveira includes a few modern-day references to enterain readers.

"I will gladly hear what you have to say, Dr. Stipp, but only after I speak to Emma. I do not want to contaminate my impressions with yours."

"They are not impressions. They are facts."

"There are facts and then there are alternate facts."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard anyone say."

That's but one example, so keep your eyes peeled and enjoy.

4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF p. 50. I judged a book by its cover synopsis and author blurbs, which got me to give this a shot, and realized pretty quickly that it's not for me. The first five chapters set up a precious and trite historical romance featuring superficial dialogue and cardboard cross-class stereotypes à la The Gilded Age. It will appeal to a lot of folks but I was looking for something else.

A Wild and Heavenly Place, another phenomenal story written by Robin Oliveira, is inspired by the author’s great-great grandfather immigrating to America from Scotland. Oliveira’s beautiful prose drew me into this love story of reversed fortunes and ultimate sacrifices immediately, and kept me turning the pages till the end. She definitely did her research as the historical details are remarkable. The scenery is so vivid adding a tactile sense to the experience of reading this story. Oliveira as always gives her readers characters that are true to life, and luckily we get to follow them as they struggle through life first in Glasgow and then in frontier Seattle, in this heart wrenching beautifully written story. I highly recommend A Wild and Heavenly Place, one of the most exquisite and memorable historical novels I have read in a long time.

I received a complimentary copy from Putnam/Penguin Random House through NetGalley for an honest review. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review and all opinions are my own.

Hailey and her family are very rich and live in Glasgow, Scotland. Samuel is very poor and struggling to feed himself and his sister. When he saves Hailey’s little brother from a runaway carriage. His world changes. He falls head over heels for Hailey. He knows she is out of his league. But not long after that fateful day, Hailey’s father loses it all. She and her family move to America. But this does not stop Samuel. He follows her!

I cannot think of a better day to post about star-crossed lovers than on February 14. Life just keeps getting in the way of these two. But, you just can’t help but keep rooting for them!

I enjoyed so much about this novel. The setting, the characters and the story just reeled me in. The tragedy that follow both of these characters just break your heart but you just can’t stop reading!

Need a heartbreaking, captivating, star-crossed lovers tale…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest opinion.

One family goes from luxury to poverty while another goes from poverty to more poverty, but then both circle back.

The MacIntyre family was living in luxury until the bank of Glasgow failed.

Samuel was poverty stricken from birth.

Harold Macintyre lost everything including his job.

He decided to move his family from Scotland to Seattle, Washington, where he was hoping to get a job in the coal business.

It was a rude awakening for his family, but now they know how the poor that Mrs. MacIntyre had no time for back in Scotland had to live.

Hailey MacIntyre was more devastated than her mother because she had fallen in love with Samuel Fiddes a poor dock worker back in Scotland. Her mother forbid her to see Samuel.

Meanwhile Samuel is on his way to Seattle to find Hailey, and she doesn’t know it.

We follow Samuel, his little sister Allison, and the MacIntyre family as we share in their struggle to live and live with them in their sorrows in this time frame - 1878 to 1882.

I loved sweet Allison.

Samuel will warm your heart too with how he takes care of his sister.

You will also feel the pain of most of the characters, but you will want James to have some pain.

The descriptions were very vivid and easily took you to the setting. Ms. Oliveria’s Writing is beautiful and lush.

There also is some heartbreaking romance, but more of the lives of the characters and how the homesteaders built a life for themselves and the country in the wild area they lived in. 5/5

Historical fiction fans will enjoy this book even though most is about hardships and heartbreak.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really liked it. Thank you!

This book is the tale of a young midwife who wants to become a surgeon and gets her training on the battlefields of the Civil War. I found the story confusing at the start, as if I had been dropped into the middle of a movie that I had missed the first half hour. The characters were a little hazy - as if the author took for granted that we knew what was in her mind. The ending seemed rather abrupt. Nevertheless, the story held my interest.

I was so impressed with Robin Oliveira's debut novel, MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER, that I felt I had to read her next, WINTER SISTERS (2018), a sequel, set in Albany, fourteen years after the Civil War which formed the setting of the first book. Dr Mary Sutter is now married to Dr William Stipp, and they have a successful joint practice in Albany. Mary's mother, Amelia, and her orphaned niece, Elizabeth, live with them. The story opens with a devastating blizzard, in which their dear friends, the O'Donnells, are killed, and their two small daughters go missing. A weeks-long search is unsuccessful. But then, six weeks later, in the aftermath of a spring flood, the two girls are found alive, but the older girl, ten year-old Emma, has been brutalized and raped. A suspect is soon arrested and charged - the foreman of a lumber yard owned by one of the wealthiest families in Albany, the Van der Veers. In the course of the man's arrest and investigation, some very dark family secrets, and the seedy underbelly of Albany are unearthed. There is a trial that will keep you on the edge of your, well, whatever it is you're sitting on. And in those years the age of consent in New York was just ten. WHAT?! Yeah, me too. And brothels and prostitution in Albany were flourishing. All of this figures into a real page-turner of a mystery. Enough said. If I have any complaints about the novel, it would be about the excessively flowery details and descriptions throughout, and perhaps the overly melodramatic touches here and there, especially in final chapters following the trial. It seemed that Oliveira was trying too hard to tack on a happily-ever-after ending. While much of WINTER SISTERS was indeed riveting reading, I would have to say the MARY SUTTER book was better. But, as a sequel, this was very very good. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

Living in the greater Seattle area I enjoyed reading about the city during its infancy. The romance was fun and kept me turning the pages. However the love story it seemed a little weakly grounded— I wish there was more story at the beginning to establish the relationship. Some of the secondary characters along the way seemed a little underdeveloped as well. I was worried this would have a tragic ending and while it ended up ending well, there were a few unresolved threads (Allaway’s payments? Samuel’s bank loans? Bonnie?) I also wish there had been Scottish slang and culture incorporated throughout.

Another serendipitous thrift store find, MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER (2010) was Robin Oliveira's first novel, which is hard to believe, because it is so perfect, and so good! The title character is a young midwife (trained by her widowed mother) in 1860s Albany who longs to be a surgeon, but her application to the local medical school is rejected because she is a woman, and James Blevens, the young local doctor, refuses to take her on as an apprentice for the same reason. She is also secretly in love with Thomas, the recently orphaned young man next door, but he is enamored with her much prettier twin sister, Jenny. Then the Civil War intervenes, changing everything, as Thomas quickly marries (and impregnates) Jenny, enlists in the Union Army and departs, as do Dr Blevens and Mary's younger brother, Christian. Bereft and restless, Mary soon answers a call (from Dorothea Dix) for nurses in Washington, D.C., where she quickly becomes caught up in the confusion and madness of the War, and also manages to apprentice herself to the much older, widowed Dr William Stipp. Many historical figures play minor roles in Mary's story - Generals McClellan, Winfield Scott and orhers. Surgeons Letterman and Tripler; and, of course, President Lincoln, and his young secretary, John Hay. The author expertly weaves these persons into Mary Sutter's horrific baptism by fire in the horrific conditions of hastily assembled and ill-equipped hospitals in D..C., and then the filthy, primitive field hospitals near the battlefields of Manassas, Fairfax, and Antietam, strewn with thousands of dead and wounded soldiers from both sides of the conflict. After Antietam, Mary returns home, but her story continues a few years after the war in a heartwarming Epilogue.

I absolutely loved this book, and was sorry to see it end. But then I Googled the author and happily discovered that she has written a sequel called WINTER SISTERS. Time permitting, I will try to read that one too. This one? A worthy addition to the growing genre of War Lit. Bravo, Ms Oliveira. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

Set during the Civil War, Mary is determined to be a female surgeon, no matter how much she's turned away from apprenticeship or medical school. Quite a bit set in DC and northern Virginia, and interesting to me because of the locales that I knew - such as why there are no old trees in Alexandria - they were all clear cut to make the union forts to protect DC. Very gory accounts of what she and Dr. Stipp had to do for amputations, and how far away antibiotics and other healing methods were. It's a miracle that anyone survived any injury.

Vivid, moving imagining of the life of Mary Cassatt as it intersected with Degas. A portrait of Paris and the impressionist circle; a portrait of the struggle for art and love under the magnifying glass of Parisian society. Paris is shining, and book does, too.

Advanced reader copy provided by edelweiss.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Upfront, it's pure fiction; other than the artists' names, their work, and the broad strokes of accomplishment, it's made up out of whole cloth.

This is the part I had issues with, I guess. I don't know enough about Degas, Cassatt, Morisot and Manet, with the result that I feel like this book has unfairly coloured my impressions of them as people. I'm going to forever be guarding against mixing up this story with the reality of 4 of the most talented impressionist painters who've yet lived.

But if you're able to keep fact and fiction seperate, this is a heartfelt, well-written story about people who might have taken the wrong turn at the fork in the road of life. It's slow-paced, but always interesting; I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a fast read. The end also has a high probability of making readers misty eyed of not weeping outright. Oliveira is very talented at creating a sympathetic anti-hero; one that you want to hug as much as you want to smack.

At some point though, I'm going to have to follow this up with more information about these artists and their real lives so I don't every accidentally try to pass off as fact the imaginations of Oliveira's mind.½

A great tale of strong women, medicine and the Civil War.

Mary Sutter lives in Albany with her family, her mother being a sought after mid-wife in the community. As Mary grows-up she begins to follow her mother to appointments and births and begins to love the work. Her twin sister Jenny, not so much. But Mary had higher aspirations and searched for a Surgeon to apprentice with, or a Medical School that will admit her. Neither materializes and with the the outbreak of the Civil War, Mary eyes Washington as the place she may be able to follow her calling.

Robin Oliveira writes with passion and color. This book won the James Joyce First Novel Fellowship for a work-in-progress. She mixed fictional characters with real people(among those in this novel, Lincoln, Clara Barton, Dorthea Dix and of course all those names of Generals we know from that time period).

There is a sequel to this book Winter Sisters, which I read last year, before I knew it was # 2 in the series. Both can be read as stand-alone, but I am glad I went back to learn about the younger Mary.

While browsing my Library's historical fiction I came across this book. I picked up 2 others as I did not think I was going to like this one-boy was I wrong! From the 3rd chapter on, I could not put it down.

This is a sequel to another book-My Name is Mary Sutter- which I had not read(but plan to!). Mary and her husband are doctors who served together in the Civil War, drifted apart and re-met then married. They now reside in Albany NY, with Mary's mother and orphaned niece Elizabeth. Their little family extends out to The O'Donnell Family-a mother, father and 2 young girls Emma and Claire.

in 1879 an epic late-season blizzard hits Albany and the city is caught unprepared and chaos ensues. Tragedy strikes the O'Donnell's, not once but twice. This is early in the story, and it was when I was so sure I knew what was going to happen.....talk about being Gob-smacked!

Robin Oliveira caught me up in her beautiful words and spun a tale so absorbing and real I had to catch my breath more than once. Her heroes are real, her villains are more than scary. This was a time in history when woman were not suppose to be smart, they were arm candy and literal slaves to their husbands. The meat of the story resounds what women continue to endure in our world today.

WARNING: Explicit trauma and heartbreaking sadness-but well worth reading.

Oliveria's dedication for the book "For girls and women everywhere"-

Indeed! (less)

An excellent captivating read capturing the struggle women who wanted to serve faced. Plus all the characters come alive and add dimension to the plot. The author did her research, even if Mary Sutter was not a real person but a composition of 11 women who did become doctors during this time period.

Winter Sisters. Robin Oliveira. 2018. In the late 1880’s, a massive blizzard buries Albany, N.Y. Two young girls go missing. Their parents are killed but the bodies of the girls are never recovered. Friends of Claire and Emma’s parents are physicians Drs. Mary and William Stipp; they are never completely convinced that the girls are dead. Six weeks after their disappearance, they show up. It is obvious that they have been terribly emotionally and physically abused. Mary and her family are determined to find out who abused the children and see that he is brought to justice. This an excellent historical novel based on facts. We read about the rights of women under the law as far as rape victims are concerned and the way prostitutes are treated. We learn about society during this time and way women doctors were ridiculed and mistreated. It is also a beautiful love story. Well written.

A few thoughts:
- I had no idea this was a historical mystery when I picked it up -- for some reason I thought it was either a contemporary or a flashback mystery.
- I also did not realize this was part of a series; it took me a while to pick up on the characters, and I imagine reading the previous novel would have helped me understand some of the relationships more quickly.
- There is some medically graphic description of sexual abuse of a child.

At nineteen Mary Sutter, the daughter of a midwife, is a knowledgeable midwife herself. She wants to become a surgeon but living in the mid 19th century no medical school will accept her nor can she find a surgeon who will train her. The best she can do to further her medical education is to acquire and study all of the most recent medical publications including Grey's Anatomy.

When her brother and brother-in-law enlist in the Union Army in 1861, she goes to Washington City to offer her services as a nurse. Sutter is thrown into the most grossly overcrowded, understaffed and least equipped hospital in the city, initially doing the most menial work. She eventually catches the attention of two doctors who recognize her ability and out of desperation begin to train her. Strong will and more knowledge will lead Mary to carnage on the battlefields, personal heartbreak, and deep friendships.

In Mary, Oliveira has created a strong character who recognizes and stoically faces all of the prejudices against women at the time. She has also written a realistic history of Civil War battles and the experiences of those involved.½

What a heartbreaking novel this was. I picked up "Winter Sisters" because of the stunning front cover and I found myself soon engrossed in a compelling family drama. My heart bled for what the two girls, especially ten-year-old Emma had to endure when the sisters disappeared during a severe blizzard which killed both their parents. It was a hard read at times, especially when Emma's injuries were described and I was horrified to discover that the age of consent in New York in 1879 was ten years of age! I felt sick to my stomach when I read that! I had my suspicions fairly early on who the perpetrator was but that didn't detract from the novel in any way.

I admired Dr Mary Sutter who fought for women's rights and defied society's oppression of women. She showed strength and determination all through the novel. The other family members - William, Amelia and Elizabeth - were just as inspiring. They rallied around the two girls and protected them from public opinion and attempted to heal them from the trauma they had endured for six, long, terrifying weeks.

The courtroom drama in Part 3 of the the book was extremely well done and I found it hard to stop reading as lies and betrayals were exposed. I thought Jason was terrific and what he did was truly heroic. However, it was Emma who was the shining light during the trial and I wanted to scoop her in my arms and hug her for her fortitude under extremely trying circumstances,

"Winter Sisters" was a wonderful historical thriller. It was beautifully written and was seeped in rich, period detail and atmosphere. Full of tragedy, corruption, bravery, bigotry and finally redemption, it was a compelling read.

Descriptive, emotional novel of Civil War midwife wanting to be surgeon. Beautiful love story, too. Not sex, but true deep love. Gore, proximity to DC, best practices for surgeries not yet known, true to life characters.

I was very impressed by this book. While reading it, it was obvious that Ms. Oliveira had really done her research. After just checking out her webpage at http://www.robinoliveira.com/behind-the-story.php, I am even more impressed with the amount of research she performed. This was her first book and was quite an undertaking with the level or historical information she included.

Very well written. At some times difficult to read based on the subject matter. It reminded me that we are so spoiled in this generation. There are so many before us who have truly lived through immense hardships.

I personally think this would make a wonderful movie and I look forward to any future novels that Ms. Oliveira may write.

Book on CD narrated by Mozhan Marnò

The subtitle – A Story of Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas – is all the synopsis anyone needs. This immediately drew my attention as I love art, the Impressionists in particular, and I love reading historical fiction about artists. Also, I loved Oliveira’s debut work: My Name is Mary Sutter. So, I had high hopes.

I liked learning more about the journey these artists took to become the icons we know today. No story focusing on these two artists could possibly be told without also touching on the other Impressionists: Manet, Morisot, Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, and they are all here as well. I appreciated all the period detail and the exploration of the various tangled relationships. I was unaware of some of the medical issues that plagued Degas and Manet, having previously been content merely to study the product of their years of work. Similarly, I didn’t know about Cassatt’s family situation, or Morisot’s complicated love life. I had previously been content to merely gaze with astonishment and admiration at the works of art they created. But while I appreciate now having learned all these details, and while these elements added color to the story, they failed to really move me.

I grew as frustrated by the relationship between Mary and Edgar as Oliveira indicates Mary was. Despite what the title may imply, I didn’t find much love here. I absolutely hated Degas; what a selfish, arrogant, inconsiderate worm! And I was somewhat puzzled by Mary, so strong and determined one moment and so self-pitying in another. I found the relationship between Morisot and the Manet brothers a much more compelling story.

Final verdict: interesting historical fiction that held my attention and shed some light on the background of these artists, but it failed to fully engage me.

Mozhan Marnò does a stellar job performing the audio version. She sets a good pace and her facility with French names and phrases helped me feel I was in Paris.

For such a promising premise, this book falls flat.

The book begins during pre-Civil War when the threat of the pending war is permeating everyone’s lives. Mary Sutter is a mid-wife, same as her mother, who has the ambitions of becoming a surgeon. Will she or won’t she?

The satisfying elements in this book includes the portrayal of American Civil War brutalities and its complete lack of decent medical care including the numerous amputations, and Mary Sutter’s work ethnics. The distracting elements are the love triangle between Mary and her twin sister that needlessly thread into the storyline even though they are in separate locations (get over it already!) and the inclusion of President Lincoln into the story, adding false gravitas to a story that turned out to be only a hair above chick lit. SMH.

This is possibly a three-star book but minus half a star, especially for the Lincoln passages.

Some quotes:

On grief:
“No one ever told her that grief was a leveling of all emotion, that life would stretch before you, colorless and endless, devoid of any hope.”

On slavery:
“Their slaves’ skin might be black, but it was not as black as the souls who might enslave them.”

On injured soldiers:
“This thirst is not thirst. This pain is not pain. This world is not being rent in two.
That howling is only a whisper. That screech is just a murmur. That explosion is nothing but a sigh. That musket fire is but a rustle.
I am not here. We are not here. Armies are not here. The country is not depending on this moment.
Battles are conversations. An exchange. A dialogue.
None of this is true.”½

Mary Sutter wants to be a surgeon more than anything. Instead she is working as a midwife which is acceptable in her day and age - the civil war period in the United States.

Mary is a very strong character even though she has some very serious insecurities as a woman due to being rejected by a man she thinks she loves. She feels inferior to her much prettier twin sister. Through the course of the story, we see Mary handle her fears and face her perceived weaknesses.

This is an interesting historical novel and I read this as a selection for my local book club.