A Woman Doctor Came To Town


Fiction - Western
292 Pages
Reviewed on 06/03/2019
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

A Woman Doctor Came to Town by Raymond Cook is a historical Western frontier story that follows Julia Pearce, a midwife who moves with her father Jacob to Apache Junction in 1890. As the father and daughter team settle into the town without a doctor, they are warmly welcomed by the town and, in particular, Julia is welcomed by the women and children of the town. While Jacob is the primary physician, he depends on Julia to assist where he is unable, and over time under the guidance of her father, she becomes accepted as a useful practitioner in her own right—particularly when a mass shooting occurs in Apache Junction. When a smallpox epidemic hits Apache Junction, many people in the town died and Julia is left to her own resources to begin again. Unfortunately, her father is no longer with her to make the transition comfortable in a new city in Colorado.

Raymond Cook introduces an intelligent and resilient female protagonist in A Woman Doctor Came to Town. Julia is a character that is easy to root for and her placement in a Western frontier tale adds a fresh twist to a classic genre. The story is written with a simple, straightforward narrative that is comfortable to follow. It is evident that an exhaustive amount of research went into the book, as the scant but ever-growing medical knowledge and availability of supplies (in comparison to today's standard) are well represented in the novel. I love how the time period is accurately depicted, and even though Julia is a modern woman for her time, Cook is sensitive to the era he writes about and respects both the limitations faced by a woman and the desire within Julia to push beyond those boundaries.