I really loved the beginning of this novel. I enjoyed the plot and thought Sarah was a wonderful main character but then things took a turn for me with the sexual assault and I found it hard to carry on.

A London socialite is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Edinburgh following a scandal. Sarah is allowed to study at Medical School and is determined to become a doctor, but her efforts are thwarted by the Medical School's male students and professors alike who do not think that ladies should be allowed to study medicine. Even the dozen or so other ladies studying with her make Sarah's life difficult, particularly regarding the gossip that has followed her from London. The only place Sarah finds some solace is at a local Infirmary for the poor and unfortunate members of society where she helps out a couple of times a week.

This a fantastic and atmospheric piece of historical fiction, set in the late 19th century. The descriptions of the squalor and general grimness of the more unsavoury parts of Edinburgh's poorer districts is very well done. A very good read.

I really enjoyed this book. It is clearly well researched and paints a very vivid picture of the struggles women faced when trying to obtain equal rights to education and society in general at this time. It beggars belief that women were locked up for what was deemed 'hysteria' and subjected to unnecessary surgery in order to to 'cure' them, such a relatively short time ago.
Whilst things have changed for the better, women still have a long way to go before they will be truly equal, even in the so-called civilised nations.
My only negative about this book is that I don't think that it was necessary to build the plot around a crime. I think it stands up well as a historical novel.
My thanks to netgalley for this copy.

Edinburgh in the late 19th Century and Sarah Gilchrist is one of the first female students admitted to Medical School, fighting the prejudices of both students and lecturers alike. However Sarah is also struggling with her past, a sexual assault left her confined to a 'sanitarium' and estranged from her parents who did not believe she was attacked. Sarah is living with her strict Aunt and Uncle, her only freedom being at college or in helping at clinic in a poorer part of town. When a young prostitute is found dead soon after visiting the clinic Sarah is suspicious, particularly as her enquiries seem to lead her back to one of her Professors.

I found this book really enjoyable, Sarah is an engaging character with a fascinating back-story and I hope that is developed in subsequents stories. The 'romance' is a little forced and clunky but the politics are handled perfectly and the prejudices seem real and understood. This is Welsh's first novel and it bodes well for the future, a fresh new voice.

An interesting historical thriller with strong female characters, and good period detail which is richly and atmospherically described. Effective use of the theme of women's liberation from traditional roles, and would recommend this book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for a review copy of The Wages of Sin, a historical novel set in 1892, Edinburgh.

Sarah Gilchrist has offended Victorian propriety and is ostracised by her family but they have allowed her heart's desire to be one of the first women to study medicine at Edinburgh University. As a woman of dubious moral values she is encouraged by the aunt and uncle she is staying with to undertake Christian volunteer work which she does at a local hospital for the poor. She is shocked when she is asked to dissect the body of a young woman she met the previous day at the hospital, apparently a suicide. Sarah suspects murder and is determined to investigate.

I was really looking forward to this novel with it's enticing mix of feisty, forward looking protagonist, meaty crime and period detail but it did not meet my expectations as a crime novel. The period detail is excellent from the rigid Victorian moral code and the difficulties facing the "new women" of the medical faculty to the abject poverty and struggle for survival of the lowest but it is laboured at every turn and overshadows everything else in the novel. As a result the crime and its investigation seems secondary.

Sarah Gilchrist is an interesting character. Damned by society she cuts a solitary figure through no fault of her own - this is not explicitly stated but there are enough hints and allusions for the reader to understand what happened. It has given her a chip on her shoulder and a determination to succeed in her chosen career. She is not a particularly likeable character and while this is understandable it doesn't excuse her other flaw of jumping to conclusions with no proof.

The Wages of Sin is not a bad book and will interest readers who want period detail and character which are both well done but if you are more interested in the crime and its solution it is a bit slow moving and turgid.

Wages of Sin follows the trials and tribulations of Sarah Gilchrist, an English medical student at the University of Edinburgh. Kaite Welsh sets her scene with verve and passion, establishing the Auld Reekie atmosphere of Victorian Edinburgh with its dark and dingy closes, Cowgate squalor and apparent moral turpitude, contrasting the whorehouses and tenements of the Old Town with the more refined life of the New Town. It's a setting rich with possibility for a historical crime drama and she fills it with familiar characters, from the dour, hot-headed young professor seeking to salve a wounded heart in drink and bare-fist fighting to Sarah's staid and disapproving family and a shady brothel madam. There is nothing particularly original here but it is both engaging and entertaining all the same.

What does add a fresh edge is Welsh's strong and unabashed feminism. She doesn't shrink at all from laying out all of the stigma, prejudice and restraint that Victorian women laboured under, whether forced into back-breaking char work or prostitution through poverty or struggling to make a mark in a world that refused power, education, profession and self-actualisation she reveals the struggles of all women from the gutter to the townhouse. She has populated her pages with strong female characters, beginning with Sarah who, banished from London for a public "disgrace" is determined to complete her studies among the first female medical students admitted to the University of Edinburgh. The obstacles faced by these women are considerable and enraging, from the condescension of the staff (male) to the abuse from their fellow students; vicious pranks, assaults and abuse. But Welsh also addresses the problems within the ranks of the women themselves. There is inevitable competition between the students working so hard to prove themselves worthy and they are not above achieving this through backbiting and rumour. The way these women have internalised the more overt sexism of Victorian society is clear in the way they treat each other, casting doubt on virtue and morality and condescending to the lives of women not as fortunate as themselves.

You may notice that I haven't mentioned the mystery yet and there is a reason for that but some details first. As part of her medical training, and one of the few outside activities allowed by an aunt and uncle watching eagle-eyed over her besmirched virtue, Sarah volunteers at a Cowgate clinic for the poor under the aegis of one of Ediburgh's few female doctors. Here is where the prostitutes and the destitute can find some help and here she meets Lucy, a young prostitute pregnant and desperate not to be. But abortion is illegal and the clinic has troubles enough. Later Lucy turns up at the University, on Sarah's slab, a body donated for dissection. In the short time she spends with the body Sarah becomes suspicious about the cause of death and as Lucy's fate preys on her mind she begins to investigate the circumstances of her death, only for her suspicions to fall upon one of her own lecturers, a man who knows her secret and has many of his own and to whom she finds herself reluctantly drawn...

The mystery does get a little lost in all of Sarah's other preoccupations; her studies, her repressive home life, the threat of a former scandal, the hostility of her fellow students. There a few too many long pauses and rather too few developments to make the crime side of the story particularly strong and the final denouement is a little disappointing and a touch contrary to the strong feminist message throughout. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Welsh's clever us of Edinburgh's dank, seedy atmosphere, her pugnacious tackling of women's place in Victorian society and her use of genre tropes while (almost always) staying true to her intent and her characters. There isn't the nuance or subtlety of something like Sarah Moss's Bodies of Light but there are well-rounded female characters, strong and progressive without losing their connection to their own time. An interesting and enjoyable debut and a character and author I would like to see again.

The wages of Sin tells the tale of Sarah Gilchrist, a society outcast as a result of an unwanted suitor. Banished from London to Scotland to her Aunt Emily’s.

Sarah’s purpose in Scotland is not solely familial, she has been accepted onto the first female medical course at the University as she follows her dreams of becoming a Doctor.

She also volunteers at a charitable institution, keen to be seen to be doing something to help the local community away from her studies.

The women on Sarah’s course all seem to be against her despite their shared desire to prove all the doubters of women Doctor’s wrong, and indeed those against women studying in general.

Sarah find solace in her work at the charity and questions her own suitability to the role of Doctor when she finds herself unable to help a young female patient. Lucy, a prostitute is pregnant, and desperate. But the charity has a reputation to uphold and will not perform an illegal abortion despite Lucy’s distress.

Sarah wishes there was something she could do to help, so when Lucy turns up unexpectedly and tragically at the University’s morgue to be used in the pupils surgical studies Sarah vows to find out more.

The official death verdict is suicide, but Sarah doesn’t think that however desperate Lucy was, she would have succumbed to that. And then there are her injuries...

Convinced that Lucy was murdered Sarah ignores the warnings of all those around her as she desperately seeks the truth. However the truth may be awful even for Sarah to comprehend, and her quest to find the truth more dangerous than she imagined.

This book has every component needed to create my ideal book. Historical fiction? Check. Victorian medicine? Check. Crime and mystery? Check. Feminism? Check. Amateur Sleuth? Check. This really could have been written especially just for me!

Enter Sarah Gilchrist, sent to Edinburgh from London by her family for bringing shame and scandal upon their good family name. On meeting Sarah I instantly admired her and respected her. Sarah was raped by a man in London, and as no one believed such a thing had happened she was sent to a sanatorium to be cured of her “hysteria” and evil impulses surrounding men. After leaving the sanatorium Sarah travels to Edinburgh to stay with her Aunt and Uncle where she begins studying to become a physician, amongst the first ever female intake of medical students in Scottish universities. These women’s pursuits of a career of their own are met with ridicule and disdain, the general consensus being that women should be taking a husband and running a house, nothing as ludicrous as becoming equal to men. When not studying or attending lectures, Sarah volunteers at “The Saint Giles” Infirmary for Women, this is where she meets prostitute Lucy. The next time Sarah sees Lucy she is dead on a table in the university, ready for dissection. Sarah’s certainty that Lucy was murdered leads to Sarah visiting some of Edinburgh’s most undesirable places and puts her own safety in danger as she desperately tries to unmask the culprit and achieve justice for Lucy.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Historical Fiction, in particular Victorian, is an indulgence of mine and the slow burning, compelling story drew me in from the first couple of pages. The dark, atmospheric mystery combined with the tale of female medical pioneers attempts to break down the patriarchy and lay the groundwork for equality was a pleasure to read. Sarah is a fantastic character, the protagonist of a feminist’s dreams. Sarah does not care about place in society, nor does she care whether she gets married or not. Sarah cares about those less fortunate than herself and is determined to find her place in a man’s world, doing something that makes her happy.

Kaite Welsh has clearly well researched this era and paints an iconic picture of Edinburgh in the late 19th century; social standing, money, social engagements, nice clothes and servants. On the flip side of that we see brothels, disease, opium dens, prostitutes and poverty, and on occasion these two sides overlap each other. Her exquisite writing brings the Victorian era alive from the pages, and I could clearly imagine the horrific sights and smells from the underbelly of Edinburgh.

There are clear feminist themes running throughout this story that also meet with themes of social justice and equality, issues that are all still pertinent today. Welsh demonstrates that although we have come a long way since 1892 there is still a fair distance to go.

The characterisation is perfection, each individual multi-dimensional and varied. A lot of characters are not as they first seem, and I changed my opinions on them multiple times as another layer of their personality was peeled back to reveal something even more shocking. Some got under my skin so much that I was infuriated, and Sarah understandably earned a place my heart.

This engaging, entertaining and inspiring story is a must read for fans of Historical Fiction and Crime Fiction alike, and if you enjoy Historical Crime Fiction you are onto a real winner with this one. Wages of Sin gets a massive five stars from me. Thanks to Kaite Welsh, Tinder Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Sarah Gilchrist, has many secrets and has been ostracised from her family because of the shame she has put onto them!!

It's the 1890's and Sarah wants to become a doctor which is the unthinkable for a women to want to better herself!! But she allowed into the University within the first women's group to be taught medicine.

No hospital of descent repute will allow Sarah to practice her training so she ends up volunteering in the slums of Edinburgh for the poor who cannot afford to pay for treatment. Sarah's eyes are opened wide to the horrors of these people lives!

Then when Sarah is in the University morgue for a dissection class she sees one of her patients??
How has she arrived here and what has she died from??

Good mystery, well written and the story can easily be followed on for a future series.

The author has created an interesting and, at times, feisty character in Sarah Gilchrist who, in the face of opposition from society and family, is training to be a doctor at a time when this was considered an unsuitable occupation for a woman. When a prostitute she encountered while volunteering at a community infirmary turns up dead, Sarah’s instincts are to suspect foul play. For personal reasons linked to her own past, she feels an affinity with the dead girl and a determination that her death should not just be another unsolved murder of a ‘fallen woman’.

‘Someone had done this to her, and enough people had failed to care that murder had gone unnoticed.’

A theme running through the book is the unequal treatment of women by society: economically, politically, intellectually, sexually.

‘Society lady or scullery maid – no matter what our future held, we were expected to go about it looking as though we had never even conceived of having an opinion about anything.’

Sarah’s own back story reinforces this message as the reader learns of past experiences which have scarred her both mentally and physically. Some of these are quite shocking. At times, I did start to feel the message about the unfair treatment of women at the hands of men – although completely justified by the evidence of the times - got a little heavy-handed. I found myself thinking, OK, I get the point!

Some elements of the mystery at the heart of the novel went in directions I expected but others certainly did not. Along the way Sarah ventures up some of the same dead-ends and falls for the same red herrings as the reader. There were some good twists as the solution to the mystery was unravelled. The book also nicely sets up the story for future books in the series.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Headline/Tinder Press, in return for an honest review.