Publisher: Little Brown and Company, June 15th 2021

Format: ebook

Pages: unknown

Rating: 3/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

The fascinating novel based on Cape Town’s infamous Dr. James Barry, born Margaret Anne Bulkley, an Irish girl and who changed her name, lived as a man, and revolutionized medicine in the Western world.

“She died, so I might live.”

Dr. James Miranda Barry was a brilliant nineteenth-century Irish physician who rose to the rank of Inspector General of military hospitals in the British colonies. Barry reformed medicine for women, slaves, and native peoples; performed the first successful Caesarian in Africa; and advocated for the humane and proper treatment of leprosy; but his achievements were overshadowed by the discovery, upon his deathbed, that the doctor was born female and had carried a pregnancy late to term. E. J. Levy’s deeply researched novel brings this captivating, controversial character vividly alive, and sheds new light on Dr. Barry’s momentous, gender-bending career and life.

Beginning in Cork, Ireland, the novel recounts Barry’s transition from daughter into son in order to enter medical school and provide for his mother, but Barry soon embraced his newfound freedom and opportunity. From successful medical student in Edinburgh and London to eligible and quick-tempered physician in Cape Town, where Barry and the Governor were publicly accused of a homosexual affair that scandalized the colonies and nearly cost them their lives, THE CAPE DOCTOR is the story of Barry’s rise from penniless Irish girl to one of the most celebrated and infamous figures of his time, a time that looks — in its technological discoveries, revolutionary fervor, battle over gender identity, race, religious intolerance, and social unrest — remarkably like our own. 

My Review:

Thank you Little Brown and Company for the copy of this book.
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This book had an interesting premise. A female with no prospects but smart becomes a man to go to medical school and then continues life as a male doctor. Taking place in the 1700s, this is not something that was commonly done, so I was excited to read about this character. However, I really struggled to connect with the main character and I wanted to know more about her inner thoughts and feelings as we experienced her life.
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The one part I did enjoy was the romance that was sprinkled into the story, which I can’t say I am surprised at this fact.
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CW: sexual content, violence, illness, misogyny.