The Wages of Sin

The Sarah Gilchrist Series, Book 1

By: Kaite Welsh

Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Sarah Gilchrist has fled London and a troubled past to join the University of Edinburgh's medical school in 1892, the first year it admits women. She is determined to become a doctor despite the misgivings of her family and society, but Sarah quickly finds plenty of barriers at school itself: professors who refuse to teach their new pupils, male students determined to force out their female counterparts, and - perhaps worst of all - her female peers who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman.

Desperate for a proper education, Sarah turns to one of the city's ramshackle charitable hospitals for additional training. The St. Giles' Infirmary for Women ministers to the downtrodden and drunk, the thieves and whores with nowhere else to go. In this environment, alongside a group of smart and tough teachers, Sarah gets quite an education. But when Lucy, one of Sarah's patients, turns up in the university dissecting room as a battered corpse, Sarah finds herself drawn into a murky underworld of bribery, brothels, and body snatchers.

Painfully aware of just how little separates her own life from that of her former patient's, Sarah is determined to find out what happened to Lucy and bring those responsible for her death to justice. But as she searches for answers in Edinburgh's dank alleyways, bawdy houses, and fight clubs, Sarah comes closer and closer to uncovering one of Edinburgh's most lucrative trades and, in doing so, puts her own life at risk.

An irresistible listen with a fantastic heroine, a beautifully drawn setting, and fascinating insights into what it was like to study medicine as a woman at that time, The Wages of Sin is a stunning debut that heralds a striking new voice in historical fiction.

©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Kaite Welsh

a smart mystery

Entertaining, engaging and smart with a good view of Edinburg, society and medicine at the turn of the century. I hope this series endures for many, many books.

Took a while to get into, but worth it.

I appreciate the two major things this novel is about. First, are the absurd prejudices and societal mores women have faced throughout history (with rare exceptions) & have had to deal with until quite recently. Second, of course, is that it's a pretty good murder mystery. The two are somewhat awkwardly intertwined, however; I wanted to give it a 5-star rating, but it just wasn't quite there. I have real trouble liking the main character very much. Though I realize the incredible difficulties Miss Gilbert faces, she just seems a bit too childish at times for a woman her of age and supposed experience. But maybe that's the point, having been raised in "society," she really didn't have much real-life, outside the 1% bubble, experience. Though naive, Sarah is strong of will, mind, and intelligence, and is quickly learning the ways of the world, albeit the hard way. I do find myself interested in reading the next chapter of her life as she (hopefully) grows into womanhood and hones her detective instincts & skills. So, on to the next in the series.

An interesting take on historical murder mystery

The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh is the first book in the Sarah Gilchrist Mysteries series. The book follows first-year medical student Sarah Gilchrist as attends the University of Edenborough the first year it admits women into their medical school.

The book is a murder mystery but it’s also a historical commentary about the plight of women in the late Victorian area as women have beginning to make inroads in gaining their independence. The story has an additional layer of showing this from the perspective of young women who comes from the upper class where young women are even more controlled by their families.

Sarah Gilchrist was born in London to a wealthy family and just like all young women from the upper crust she’s expected to find a good match, marry, and become a dutiful wife. However, this all changes one night when Sarah is assaulted, and her virtue is destroyed. This makes her damaged goods and for all intense and matter useless to her family. She is sent to Edenborough to live with her aunt and uncle and allowed to enter medical school.

While I found the murder mystery part of the story interesting, I figured it out pretty quickly, however, that’s not the main driving force of the story, for me, what drives the story and makes it compelling is reading Sarah’s journey. The woman she’s becoming is very different from the woman she once was. She learns to empathize with others who are not of her social class but nonetheless have been abused and trampled on by those around them and society as a whole.

The story has a feminist slant and I enjoyed the exploration of the rivalry of women. The author doesn’t go too in-depth into it, but she does address it, which I appreciate.

Overall I enjoyed the story a great deal, 4 stars.

Good enough, won’t read a second time…

One observation: she is an excellent example of making the best of a bad situation.
The sexism she confronts is realistic. For this, it’s awful hard to read through.
The story seems to lag and jump at points. For this it’s a little difficult to track.
The overall story is compelling and you genuinely wish the heroin the best of success.

Good story!

Yes, there are maybe half a dozen editing errors where a phrase is repeated but it in no way takes away from the story.

Which is a good one . With characters engaging enough that you may want to smack the female lead a time or two because you have become invested in her wellbeing .

So Many Repeated Lines

I enjoyed the story, and the narrator did a great job. But, there were a lot of repeated lines that were annoying to me.

indulgent and unpolished but very fun

I enjoyed Welsh's debut novel; the foreshadowing may be a little heavy handed at times but the story itself was imaginative and delightfully pulled off. Sarah is a charming young woman whose inner narrative refreshes a somewhat overused time period.
Unfortunately, the narrative production value is slightly raw. Certain sentences are repeated by the narrator for a second take, without the first attempts edited out. The effect can be jarring and mars an otherwise respectable performance by MJ Wells. Overall, however, the story is intriguing and worth your time.

I love this!

Kaite Welsh is brilliant and Mary Jane Wells is my fav narrator. What a fantastic merger this is. This story is so compelling. I loved every word and is surely one character we get to keep reading about. I am hooked!

Kaite Welsh, please write a third book in the series!

I’m not ready to part with this heroine! You also couldn’t pick a better narrator.

VERY ENTERTAINING

this is a really good victorian era story, a notch above what I've listened to lately. The era is one of my favorites and I found it well done. Book two is also very good. Will be looking for book three!