Not my favourite by Lily Hammond, her other works are by far much better! So this is a bit of a disappointment in comparison.
I felt myself slogging to get through a lot of the tedium of the book, where not a lot actually happened. So I found it hard to keep my interest.
May Lewis is the new doctor in a small town, trying to get over the long-term relationship she had with her older female tutor in medical school, who played with her affections and was quite aloof. She also wants to be more than an antiseptic doctor diagnosing symptoms and prescribing treatments without care or concern. She wants community and consideration for each person she encounters.
Eadie is a social outcast in the small town, despite having lived there her whole life, and people there knowing her, and her parted parents, and brother. Her brother is mentally impaired but still seen as able bodied enough to be conscripted into the war efforts. (The previous doctor did nothing to help the situation.) This caused a huge fray in the town, where bitterness and jealousy won out, among high emotion and tension because other young men were being enlisted and killed, and it was seen as him shirking his responsibilities, and Eadie helping him evade capture.
The small town with small minds and easily lead loyalties was apparent, but I found myself really not caring about their redemption since their allegiances were so damned fickle. I would not have the fortitude to forgive and forget and move on in Eadie's place.
When Eadie and May first meet it's very emotional and dramatic, because someone close to Eadie dies after childbirth, so there's a comforting hug, that maybe had a bit of a butt-grab, because of the angle (one was sitting down, the other standing) and then we see chapters of these two pining after eachother in the most juvenile and immature ways, which didn't make much sense to me since they barely knew eachother, and both women - by all accounts - are capable and smart who shouldn't be swooning over such trivialities.
These actions and thoughts throughout actually made me dislike both love interests, despite otherwise appearing quite strong. So it was bizarre to me, and I couldn't understand this insta-attraction, especially in the midst of such an angsty moment of hurting, and how it became construed into something romantic, and then so brooding.
For a book that was about 5 ish hours long, not a lot actually happens. So you end up with a lot of mind running around, and tripping about in their emotions, which again never really adds up since they barely said much or had many interactions, so their entire basis for 'love' seemed rushed and incomprehensible.
So I wouldn't really recommend this one. Maybe I missed something?