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I was the little nerdette with a library card in my kindergarten hand, reading the kiddie books and planning what I would write. Come college time accounting seemed a more certain way to bring in a dollar so journalism was a minor. Writing was put on the back burner while dollars were made and kids and parents were raised, however, reading was always on the front burner. Probably my biggest influences would be Susan Howatch, Diana Gabaldon and Margaret Mitchell. A conversation with my husband 20 years earlier about suicide vs. murder percolated in the back of my mind and then announced it wanted to be written. I obeyed and out came The Doctor's Daughter: Journey to Justice. The history of Nashville during the Civil is just so interesting and so important at that time but most people won't sit down with a history book so I sneaked the history and the antebellum law and medicine in with a good story.
Reviewed by Ioana Marza for Readers' Favorite
When Kate Seaver’s father dies in unclear but violent circumstances in 1860s America, she vows to avenge him and bring to justice the man whom she blames for robbing him of his business, his home, and his pride. This takes her on a journey of hate, love, and discovery, as well as unexpected and unwanted surprises.
The fans of the most widely known American civil war depiction – Gone with the Wind – will find quite a few familiar aspects in The Doctor’s Daughter. The same chaos engulfs the Confederate city and the hospitals struggle to cope with the many injured on the eve of the Yankee invasion. (Though Belle Blackburn’s Yankees are much better behaved than Margaret Mitchell’s.) Kate, similar to the famous Scarlett O'Hara, also fails to see the love and the qualities of the man next to her, blinded by the pursuit of a chimera that it is doubtful can make her truly happy. There is also a “tomorrow is another day” moment when Kate resolves to think on how to sort out her life. But this is where the similarities end.
The mystery of Kate’s father's death, which is ultimately the engine that drives the whole story, has a completely unexpected but believable explanation. The constant turmoil of feelings and the personal interpretation of God’s will in a more vengeful, Old Testament style are described by Kate in first person in a powerful and captivating way. I learnt more about charming American Southern expressions and superstitions, as well as the small farmers’ way of life in that era, than one could have learnt from many history books. Belle Blackburn must have done a great deal of research, not least into the study and practice of medicine in 19th century America. All this contributes to making The Doctor’s Daughter a complex, interesting, well written book which I enjoyed very much.
