Dr. Vance Phelps is heading west after the end of the civil war. She is a surgeon - trained at the women's doctor college in Philadelphia - like her father and her brother. The war was not kind to her. During one of the last battles between North and South, Vance's trauma hospital was hit. Now she is adrift and needs a new start. She will not be the doctor she thought she would be - not with only one arm.
The town of New Hope, Montana Territory, is a place to start again. Her father knows the town doctor and called in a favor. And Vance thinks she might be better off away from the cities and the society rules she grew up around. She does not expect to find happiness, but a distance from the war would be welcome.
What Vance does not count on is the trio of women she is about to meet. Jessie, Kate and Mae will change Vance's life. When the local doctor assigns her to check on the women who work at the Nugget, he tells her to look for the prettiest woman west of the Mississippi. When she see Mae, her heart skips a beat.
Radclyffe has written a wonderful historical novel featuring women who love women and how they might have lived during the late 1800s. Her characters are strong, independent and brave to make lives of their own during the time period.
Radclyffe. (2006). Promising Hearts. Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books.
