Prologue
October 1901
Labellum, Missouri
My father died with the taste of blood on his lips. To thinkthat’s why I now sat covered in blood. That’s why there were red handprints on the walls, crimson footprints on the floor, and screaming streaks across my white dress.
The investigator scrutinized me, and I rubbed my hands togeth-er under the table, the blood dry and cracking on my fingertips. I had been caught, and the house smirked in triumph. The furniture trembled with joy, and the critter designs on the dishes bit their tongues, holding back cheers. Had the house won? Would it finally swallow me whole? Would my husband—still very much a stranger to me but a man who only hours ago claimed to love me—would he choose to turn me in to his colleagues waiting outside?
Now I had to choose. I could fight for my freedom—my san-ity—or I could keep the promise I’d made my father. After all, it had been such a simple request made with blood-smeared lips.
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A White Room - A Novel of Victorian Hysteria & Underground Nursing
Historical FictionAt the close of the Victorian Era, society still expected middle-class women to be "the angels of the house," even as a select few strived to become something more. In this time of change, Emeline Evans dreamed of becoming a nurse. But when her fath...
