Doctor

A transporting historical novel, based on a true story, about a female physician compelled to live as a man in 19th-century Britain, from the author of the critically acclaimed Hallucinating Foucault.

At the turn of the 19th century, young, beautiful Mary Ann Bulkeley gives birth to a red-headed baby girl of uncertain paternity. Before the sensitive tomboy is 10 years old the family determines she should be raised and schooled as a boy. So begins this provocative, illuminating novel, based on a true story, which takes the cross-dressing child genius to medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then around the world. During his travels, James challenges the antiquated medical beliefs of the time, fights off outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever, and duels reluctantly over a young woman's honor. The one thing he always carries with him is an enduring affection for Alice Jones, the dark-headed kitchen girl from his childhood. In her company his mysterious origins are finally revealed in The Doctor's intriguing, anguished finale.

About the Author:

Patricia Duncker was born in the West Indies and educated at Oxford and Cambridge. Her novel, Hallucinating Foucault, was winner of Britain's 1996 McKitterick Prize for best first novel. She teaches writing, literature, and feminist theory at the University of Wales and lives in France for part of the year.