by Sheri Holman
First published 1999
Gustine moves through the quarantined streets of Sunderland in 1831, wearing a borrowed blue gown. The fifteen-year-old works as a potter's assistant during the day, then rents elegant clothing at night to sell her body. She needs every coin to care for her sickly infant son while cholera spreads through the English city. When she encounters Dr. Henry Chiver, a physician haunted by his past, Gustine sees a chance for something better. But the townspeople distrust doctors as much as they fear the epidemic. As suspicion and disease consume Sunderland, Gustine and Henry find their fates connected. Both struggle between survival and morality, poverty and respectability. Their relationship forces each to choose between self-preservation and sacrifice in a world where medicine is viewed with fear and desperation drives people to extremes.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, medical, mystery, poverty, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, morality-vs-survival, self-preservation-vs-sacrifice
Setting: Sunderland
Period: 1831
Paperback · London: Sceptre/Hodder and Stoughton, 1999.