Winter Sisters

September 15, 2017

Oliveira made the extended New York Times best sellers list with her Michael Shaara Prize-winning debut, My Name Is Mary Sutter, then detoured to a novel about Mary Cassatt with I Always Loved You. Now she returns to Mary Sutter, working as a doctor in 1897 Albany, NY, who ventures forth during a blizzard to find the two little daughters of friends who perished in the snowfall.

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Starred review from December 15, 2017
A disastrous blizzard blasts the city of Albany in 1879, and in its chaotic wake, two young girls go missing.Bonnie and David O'Donnell are among those killed in the storm. When no one arrives at school to collect their daughters, Emma and Claire, the girls set off on foot through the towering drifts. In the following days, Dr. Mary Sutter and her husband, William, physicians and friends of the O'Donnell family, try in vain to locate the children. Initially, the police offer to search for the girls, but after six weeks of Mary's relentless queries, they give up. The city faces another disaster when the frozen river thaws, causing devastating floods. When Mary and William return home from treating flood victims, Emma and Claire are waiting for them. The tale they tell is dramatic--a man has been holding them captive in a basement--but the tale told by Emma's body is all too clear to Mary: the 10-year-old has clearly been raped. As the Sutters struggle to unravel the truth behind the girls' trauma, a prime suspect emerges. Despite some contradictions between Emma's story and the public perception, Albany prepares for a sensational trial. Emma, who at 10 is at the legal age of sexual consent, must face down those who consider her survival proof that she was "a siren who...either seduced or acquiesced" to having sex with an adult man. Oliveira (I Always Loved You, 2014, etc.) crafts a complex, multifaceted historical novel that is both a captivating story and a commentary on the laws that have, for far too long, oppressed and endangered women. With the exception of one sympathetic lawyer, all of her main characters are strong women who reject the limited mold of femininity to help others, speak out against injustice, and create a nontraditional family unit that fiercely protects its own.Entertaining at times, deeply political at others; a perfect example of a historical novel that also illuminates present-day issues.

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February 12, 2018
Oliveira (My Name Is Mary Sutter) reunites readers with doctor Mary Sutter in this galvanic tale set in the winter of 1879. After a deadly blizzard engulfs the northeastern U.S., Mary, a former Civil War surgeon turned practicing doctor in Albany, N.Y., sets out to find two missing girls whose parents died in the storm. Mary is resolute in her mission to find the girls, and even after Albany police give up their official search, she perseveres. Meanwhile, Mary’s mother, Amelia, and niece, Elizabeth, return from Paris, where Elizabeth had gone to study violin. Upon returning to a devastated Albany, Elizabeth mourns the loss of the missing children, who are now presumed dead, along with her dream of becoming a professional musician, which seems out of reach after her training abroad ended poorly. When the shocking fate of the girls is suddenly revealed, Elizabeth, seeing an opportunity to help others recover from the horrible discovery, takes out her violin. Mary approaches the matter as a doctor, collecting evidence with the help of her family to understand what happened to the girls. Their dramatic investigation culminates in a courtroom battle that shakes the entire city. Oliveira’s beautiful, expertly researched novel showcases the lives of women overcoming societal constraints and living fearlessly.

December 1, 2017

Twelve years after their work on bloody Civil War battlefields (recounted in My Name Is Mary Sutter), William and Mary Stipp face a problem their medical expertise cannot cure. Two young sisters, Emma and Claire O'Donnell, disappeared during a brutal snowstorm that devastated Albany, NY, and killed their parents, the Stipps' close friends. Demanding police action while searching themselves, they are joined by Mary's niece, who returns from studying in Paris to escape her own secret. Just when everyone accepts the girls' likely deaths, they reappear during a massive spring flood. Alive but traumatized, they tell of kidnapping, imprisonment, and abuse. Wealthy Gerritt Van der Veer coerces his inexperienced lawyer son into defending his foreman, James Harley, against the charges. But at the sensational trial, Emma testifies that another man, not Harley, raped her. Readers likely will guess his identity well before the upright Albany citizens acknowledge the corruption that made this injustice possible. Those familiar with the first novel will have additional insight into characters, but this book stands alone. VERDICT Oliveira blends mystery, historical detail, and courtroom drama in a compelling story that will please most historical fiction fans, especially those who enjoyed the previous novel. [See Prepub Alert, 8/28/17.]--Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Mankato

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.