The Gilded Hour is fairly long at approximately 750 pages, leaving the author with quite a lot of room to describe her world in the most intricate and vivid details possible.

When will you stop thinking of yourself as a burden? ― Sara Donati, The Gilded Hour The amount of research Donati has put into recreating this world borders on the absurd, and the countless hours she spent reading archives and old newspapers from the times have paid off about as well as they could. The author, however, seems to have every bit of knowledge possible about the New York of 1883, to the point where it feels as if she had lived there herself. Taking place approximately 140 years ago from now (at least at the moment this review is being written), it feels like the story transports us into a somewhat alien world, which is especially true for people like me who don’t have much knowledge about the time period. Nothing is guaranteed in this new world Sophie and Anna will have to carve their own path through fate. In the process, both cousins end up in the crosshairs of Anthony Comstock, a man as dangerous and cunning as he is revered by the minds of the past. On the other hand, Sophie makes the acquaintance of a truly desperate young mother who might very well push her to break the sacred oath all doctors are required to take. On one hand, Anna crosses paths with four children who have lost literally everything, forcing her to make some very difficult personal decisions.

Though they initially set out to help people as good doctors, they are both soon faced with their own personal trials with a heavy chance of jeopardizing everything they had been working for. Among this turbulence as the country approaches the 20th century there are two cousins trying to find their place in the world, Anna and Sophie Savard, both graduates of the Woman’s Medical School. The Brooklyn Bridge is almost done being built, all while Anthony Comstock is deep in his campaign against virtually anything even remotely indecent. Taking us back all the way to 1883 New York City, we are presented with a world rife with change, splendour, joy, poverty and cruelty alike. Sara Donati (real name Rosina Lippi) is an author who most certainly belongs to this group of people, and few novels exemplify this sort of passion the way The Gilded Hour does. However, there always remain a few people interested in the past, intent on keeping history alive, even if only in hopes of learning from the mistakes of their predecessors. When the future is as troubling as it is, certain priorities must take place. The United States of America are arguably plagued by more problems than ever before, to the point where most people don’t have the time nor the desire to look at the country’s past.

Sara donati latest book