<\/p>\n
Catherine Bennett is the rare female surgeon in New York City, or anywhere, in 1871. Accused of a murder she did not commit and unable to offer an alibi that would not destroy her career and reputation, she is forced to flee. Landing in Galveston with a bounty on her head, Catherine Bennett becomes Dr. Laura Elliston and sets out to get lost. Elliston embarks on the Western Trail across Comancheria in a wagon train with a small party, recruited by one of the ubiquitous land men, to found a new town in Colorado.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sawbones <\/em>is Melissa Lenhardt\u2019s second novel\u2014and the first in a new series\u2014of Western historical fiction, with elements of the mysterious thriller, and she\u2019s hit the bull\u2019s-eye with her first shot in this genre. Lenhardt grabs her audience in the opening scene, when Bennett practices new surgical techniques on a corpse she has paid a \u201cresurrection man\u201d to procure, and doesn\u2019t let up until the final scene when Elliston rides off into the dark night with her new knight, on the run again.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bennett\/Elliston is a fiercely determined woman who disdains the traditional women\u2019s roles\u2014don\u2019t, you can\u2019t, you mustn\u2019t, what\u2019s wrong with you?\u2014and makes significant sacrifices to practice medicine. She\u2019s Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman<\/em> but more acerbic and conflicted, less romantic, and believably\u2014forgivably\u2014flawed. Lenhardt\u2019s characters are well developed and provided with diverse backstories that inform their actions and motivations. Lenhardt is particularly skilled at physical descriptions of her characters, invoking them fully formed, like Athena from Zeus\u2019s head.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is the occasional instance of overwrought description, such as Elliston\u2019s equating of a dramatic Texas sunset (\u201cthe bloodied sky\u201d) with \u201cGod\u2019s anger at man\u2019s idiocy and hubris, at the wanton waste of life,\u201d reminding her that \u201cbeauty and destruction are inexorably linked in nature and in the heart of man.\u201d But this is balanced by Lenhardt\u2019s humor. Her Western is funny, too. After an injury to her shoulder, Elliston must get it popped back into place.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Full feeling would take time but at least I would be able to use my arm. I sat up. The steward\u2019s eyes were wide. \u201cWhat? Did I scream?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSorry.\u201d Four men were standing back from the table, holding oil lanterns, eyes as wide as the steward\u2019s. \u201cWhat is the matter? Surely you\u2019ve heard a woman scream before.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, ma\u2019am,\u201d one man said. \u201cAin\u2019t ever heard one cuss.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even though the plot is intricate with many moving parts, it races along and the details fall into place like so many puzzle pieces. The plot twists, of which there are so many as to become exhausting, are precisely timed and sprung to maximum effect. Lenhardt has discovered a facility for integrating historical events\u2014the Salt Creek Massacre, General Sherman\u2019s tour of Texas forts, changing Indian policies\u2014and people\u2014Buffalo soldiers, Quanah Parker, Gen. Ranald Mackenzie\u2014into a satisfying, coherent narrative with her fictional characters. I am reminded of Jeff Guinn\u2019s recent novel, Buffalo Trail<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sawbones <\/em>is a thoroughly original, smart and satisfying hybrid, perhaps a new sub-genre: the feminist Western.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Review of Sawbones <\/em>by Melissa Lenhardt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,12,8,15,111,65],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-historicalfiction","tag-lonestarreview","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-texasauthor","tag-texasbook","tag-western"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}