Review of THE MEDICINE WOMAN OF GALVESTON by Amanda Skenadore

THE MEDICINE WOMAN OF GALVESTON by Amanda Skenandore will be released on  May 21, 2024 by Kensington.

After a botched surgery that left a woman dead, Dr. Tucia Hatherley gives up the medical profession and goes to work in a corset factory. Tucia is barely scraping by, staying one step ahead of the poorhouse and her disabled son out of an orphanage or asylum. With no other options, Tucia takes a job with a traveling medicine show despite her abhorrence of snake oil salesmen and their bogus medicines. Huey, the leader of the medicine show, is a conman who has no problem threatening Tucia into helping him sell his tonics and backing his outrageous medical diagnoses. Tucia finds small ways to rebel against Huey. Along with reading palms, Tucia passes along basic hygiene and medical advice to the yokels that visit her tent. During her time with the medicine show, Tucia bonds with the other performers—people who have also been blackmailed into staying with Huey. After months on the road, the medicine show settles in Galveston and the performers prepare to go to work in a museum. Saving Tucia from further disgrace at the museum is the Galveston Hurricane. With her young son missing, Tucia braves the storm to find him. She also rediscovers her passion for medicine and helps save the lives of other hurricane victims.

I’m a big fan of Amanda Skenandore and have enjoyed all of her historical novels. She delivers again with THE MEDICINE WOMAN OF GALVESTON. The story takes place in 1900, and follows a young woman who was determined to be a doctor against all odds until a botched surgery costs Tucia her future as a doctor. Tucia has suffered from PTSD since the incident, and she continues to battle it during her time with the medicine show. The other members of the medicine show are also running from their pasts, and they made for a great cast of secondary characters. Huey is clearly a conman from the beginning, but he continues to grow more unlikable and depraved as the story goes.

The title is a little misleading as the majority of the novel takes place on the road. It’s not until the final few chapters that Tucia and the medicine show arrive in Galveston. The hurricane proves to be the final climactic event that forces Tucia to return to being a doctor. This novel is about a woman who battles her past to overcome her past traumas and mental illness all the while raising a disabled child.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.