Across a Broken Shore

September 1, 2019
Under the shadow of San Francisco's growing Golden Gate Bridge, a girl yearns to become a physician. It's 1936. Eighteen-year-old Wilhelmina MacCarthy is expected to spend the months between high school graduation and her entry into a Catholic convent learning to sew and volunteering at a soup kitchen. But when her older brother Paddy is injured, Willa discovers that their old doctor has retired and a woman, Dr. Winston, is practicing in his place. Willa's been reading medical books in secret, and before long, she's sneaking out to help Dr. Winston at her office, a field hospital near the bridge construction site, and a Hooverville camp. She develops feelings for Sam, a young ironworker, while endlessly pondering whether she dare follow her dreams. In her author's note, Trueblood (Nothing but Sky, 2018, etc.) writes of being inspired by both the Golden Gate Bridge itself and by an actual female physician who practiced nearby. Unfortunately, her novel fails to inspire. Stereotypical views of Irish immigrants, Catholicism, and medicine combined with cringeworthy dialogue don't help, but the biggest weakness in the story is Willa's milquetoast characterization. While everyone around her smooths obstacles out of her way, she dithers for hundreds of pages while performing basic first aid to applause. The romance feels forced and the ending, melodramatic. All characters are white. The interesting setting doesn't provide nearly enough reason to keep reading. (author's note, sources) (Historical fiction. 13-18)

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October 25, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Prim and proper 18-year-old Wilhelmina ("Willa") MacCarthy knows what she wants to do with her life, the trouble is trying to convince her parents. In this historical novel, Willa finds herself at a crossroads regarding the next chapter of her adult life. During the fall of 1936 in San Francisco, Willa yearns to be a doctor. In the confined space of her bedroom, she pores over a concealed Gray's Anatomy textbook while her parents and brothers work in the family bar. To make matters worse, Willa counts the days in her diary until she will be forced to give up her life and follow her family's tradition of becoming a nun. As luck would have it, Willa meets the new doctor in town: Dr. Katherine Winston, who becomes a sisterly role model for Willa. Dr. Winston pushes Willa to look past all obstacles and to dream for more. Trueblood expertly portrays life in Depression-era San Francisco through the eyes of a young woman. She provides vivid details of the protagonist's actions and the settings, including the building of the Golden Gate Bridge. VERDICT Although the climactic event is brought on too early, leaving readers to patiently wait for another enticing moment, this book could potentially find a home on library shelves. -Beronica Puhr, Oak Park Public Library, IL

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November 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 Although Willa, 18, promised her parents she would become a nun after graduating high school, her true passion is medicine. But she is living in San Francisco during the Depression, and although her family's pub is doing well enough, Willa knows her parents wouldn't pay for their daughter to attend medical school. A serious injury to one of her brothers brings her to Dr. Winston, a woman doctor recently established in the area, and Willa impresses the doctor with her cool, calm demeanor. She offers Willa the opportunity to work with her, and Willa accepts, even thought she'll have to keep it a secret and eventually join the convent anyway. This gets more difficult as her days are filled assisting Dr. Winston both at her office and at the field hospital for the workers building the Golden Gate bridge. Willa's first-person narrative is sometimes a bit slow, and some of the characters are sharper and better developed than others, but the history of the bridge, women in medicine, and family life will have great appeal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)