In Pearl, MD, Marie Bartlett brings us the story of a woman doctor struggling to launch her career in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1883. She has run from trouble in Missouri, trouble she blames herself a little too much for. She encounters resistance in North Carolina too, because she’s female, employs a colored assistant, and treats all kinds. This book recounts Dr. Pearl Stern’s shaky triumphs over these troubles, and sets in place other conflicts to be sorted out in subsequent books.

The book starts shakily, thrusting the reader into a crisis right off the bat. There are some confusing features here at the outset, as when a deceased character speaks, and the protagonist reacts to it, all in the present tense. The narrative becomes more steady after this, though, and proceeds smoothly. Our heroine is a very sympathetic soul, and we hope for her deliverance from difficulties. She meets Herschel, the appealing lawman, with whom she shares a symbiotic relationship, and potentially quite a bit more. The overarching conflict arises from a character we barely meet, and for whom we must assume all manner of female vindictiveness. She’s not even in the narrative enough to become a cardboard cutout. She’s the agent of all Pearl’s troubles, and we barely get to meet her.

Pearl herself gets a deeper treatment; she bounces pinball-style between faint hope and despair. She’s described as a strong character, but we see the doubts gnaw away at her self-confidence. And this is the strongest effect in the story. She’s a stubborn, self-reliant woman who knows her own mind and her own abilities, and seeks only to establish herself in practice to do some good. These are just the qualities that a female doctor would have had to show at the time.

This book establishes a character for a series and sets up conflicts and resolutions to come. I found some of the plot elements difficult to get past. I couldn’t accept Pearl’s assumption of guilt in the deaths that occur in Missouri. I was puzzled by her aborted search for Loomey when her office burns down at the end. Who was the shadowy “inspector” who trails Pearl and Herschel in their travels, and why couldn’t we have been privy to more detail on his activities?

This book and this series will very likely provide some entertainment of an unsophisticated kind, rather like that intended for young adults. If your intent is elsewhere, you should look elsewhere.

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