In The Gilded Hour, Sara Donati creates two highly unconventional, main characters: Anna and Sophie. These young women are unmarried physicians living in New York in 1883, one of whom is the daughter of free colored people. Although raised by a rather unusual and forward-thinking extended family, the society in which these two cousins live and work has little concept of women’s or minority rights or concern for the well beings of orphans. This same male-dominated society also supports the entrapment and incarceration of doctors for providing abortions or contraception education to female patients who desperately seek both. These elements alone could provide ample fodder for an excellent novel, but Donati adds a significant element of romance and a challenging mystery to her well-researched historical fiction. The result is an irresistible page turner.

(Reviewed in exchange for a copy of the book in Manhattan Book Review.)