San Francisco1936, the middle of the Great Depression. Families were struggling to make ends meet and this was no different for the MacCarthy family, with 4 boys and 1 daughter, they were working hard to keep their pub alive and food on the table. For 18 year old Willa MacCarthy the only girl amongst 4 brothers, she had been told by her parents that she was to become a nun. Yet this was not the ambition she had set her mind to... she wanted to become a doctor, a secret she had to keep from her family. One fateful date opportunity knocked on her, when her brother suffered from a severe accident and Willa took him to see the neighborhood doctor. It was Katherine Winston, the young female physician who came to their aid. Yet, more than that she fueled Willa's ambition to go into the medical field, becoming her mentor. Conventions at that time period were quite strict, it wasn't easy for women to become independent, to go into the medical field was almost impossible. With her over-protective brothers as well as her parents, it was difficult for Willa to ever think she would become her dream of being a doctor. And while this conflict was taking place in her life, the Golden Gate Bridge was being built in San Francisco. There were many risks to be taken for those working on the bridge, but to be sure times were tough, the Depression had a strong hold on the population and just having a job, albeit the dangers involved, was better than nothing.

This was a strong story, with the lead character having the strength to go after her dream in spite of her family's wishes. The guilt implied was emotional, especially in a family where a child would have difficulty challenging the rules set by their elders. I dare say that was the way of it in 1936. Well written, even though for me getting through some of the medical chapters was not so easy.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was certainly a lot to like about this book but it become repetitive at times with Willa and her reasons why becoming a nun was so important to her. This seemingly strong willed girl could be challenging at times when it came to her family and Sam. The female doctor ... Katherine was by far the hero of this book. She was a pioneer not only championing woman doctors , but also the strengths of a modern woman in a male world. She did not let adversities stop her. The book depicts the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco which was interesting. Mixed with this we have the struggles of an Irish family who hold secrets . The overall read is good but at times becomes bogged down with repeated or insignificant events.

What a wonderful book! Set in the thirties, it focuses on Willa, the main character who is an 18 year old girl wanting to learn medicine. It also focuses on her family, who is Irish. Told while the Golden Gate Bridge was being constructed, we learn about breaking barriers as women of that time period. The writing was great and the story line was interesting!

LOVED this book! Trueblood wrote beautifully about a young woman struggling to make a difficult life decision: follow her heart and her passion or do what is expected of her by her parents. Willa, is such an interesting main character. She’s strong, open-minded, intelligent, and loyal even when she lacks self-confidence, she’s always working towards bettering herself.
Willa longs to work in the medical field, but in the 1930s, women do not make up a large percentage of doctors in the field. Despite this, she sneaks reading anatomy texts and ends up apprenticing with a female doctor, who is another inspiring and beautiful character in this story.
Set in San Francisco while the Golden Gate Bridge is being constructed, Willa finds herself able to help others who need medical attention due to accidents working on the bridge. She also finds herself falling for a certain light-eyed, kind young man, Sam. Her and Sam’s relationship blooms despite her promise to her parents to join the convent and become a nun.
Willa is conflicted many times throughout the story, either study medicine or become a nun. I enjoyed reading her struggles to make this difficult decision and the relationships she forms along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Flux, for the ARC for an honest review. 5 stars!

This was a wonderful book. Set in 1936, it mainly focuses on WILLA, an 18 year old female girl aspiring to learn medicine when she is expected to enter the convent. It also focuses on her Irish family, expectations and regrets. Told during the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, we learn about breaking barriers as women of that time period. The writing was great and the story was interesting. I truly enjoyed it and thank netgalley for the ARC.

The history of San Francisco is interestingly and skillfully set as the background for an engaging story of love, hardship, growth, grief, and redemption. The building of the Golden Gate bridge, the first female graduate of the University of California Medical Department at San Francisco, the Sutro Baths, the Richmond District, communities of poverty still in the shadows of the Depression, all are threaded as integral pieces of a well written story.
Willa MacCarthy is a young woman who has been promised to the church by her parents. She is to become a nun, ostensibly because it is a family tradition. However, when Willa was a child, her mother lost a baby girl in an accident for which Willa blames herself. The commitment to the church is her mother's way of placing Willa somewhere safe, some place where nothing harmful can happen to her. Just months before time to begin the first steps to entering the convent, important events in Willa's life cause this foregone conclusion about her life to come into question.
First, she is offered a job in a doctor's office; in a female doctor's office, unheard of in 1936. It becomes clear that Willa is a natural for the medical field and she accepts the job, hiding it from her parents. How will this affect the commitment to the church?
At about the same time, Willa meets Sam, a young man who adores her and makes her heart sing. How will this affect the commitment to the church?
Her parents and the priests discover that Willa has been deceiving them about where she has been going and with whom she has been keeping company when she was to have been working in a soup kitchen. Again, how will this affect the commitment to the church?
Across a Broken Shore is a very good story, well-wnritten, with well-developed characters whose relationships with each other are also well formed and meaningful.
The constant references to Willa's commitment to the church and her constant rejection of the many obvious reasons for her to reconsider that commitment become tiresome. Those particular references are redundant and actually reach the point where the reader wants to shake her by the shoulders and tell her to get a grip. Otherwise, it's a very good story with a plot that's outside the box of familiar patterns. It handles parental relationships, sibling relationships, friendships, a love story, sadness and redemption, all in interesting historical context - and handles them very well.
I really enjoyed this book and am grateful to Netgalley and Flux for the opportunity to read and review it.

This book was very eye opening and shows how different culture collide and form a new future. I loved the main character and her determination to follow her dreams even though her parents wanted a different path for her.

Immediately, I was enthralled with Across a Broken Shore's synopsis: 1930s, Irish-Catholic family, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and a female character, who wants to be a doctor in a time that was unheard of? Sign me up, I'd like to receive this ARC! And I was not disappointed, however, officially my rating is 3 1/2 stars. The story follows Wilhelmina "Willa" McCarthy, one of five children and the only girl, as a result, her parents have their heart set on her joining the nunnery but Willa has a different aspiration. She wants to be a doctor and her chance comes when her brother, Paddy, accidentally chops off his fingers at their family pub and she encounters the female doctor, Katherine Winston, who desperately needs a nurse. With five months to spare until she's consecrated to God, Willa decides to take the opportunity.

Dr. WInston takes Willa under her wing and forces her to step outside of her comfort zone. Not only does she teach Willa basic skills, but she also takes her on field excursions, where Willa begins to see how the depression has affected the world. She works with Dr. Winston at the Golden Gate Bridge construction site, seeing how these men put their lives on the line to complete the work and encountering a young thief named Simon, who's family moved to Ireland and fell on hard times. She ventures into Hoovervilles, where homeless individuals/ families gather together in a makeshift community. Here, Willa experiences the true horrors of the depression as she cares for the Cleery family, which includes a very pregnant Mrs. Cleery, Simon, who steals to feed his family while his father is gone, and Maeve, who grows sicker as the story progresses. Through these little trips,

As Willa grows as a physician, she grows out her shell and it is truly rewarding to read. At the start of the novel, she is a dutiful daughter and good Catholic, who wants to do right by her parents and earn the MacCarthy family respect but as the story unfolds this changes as she experiences the world. Of course, there's Sam (the romantic interest), a wanderer, orphaned at a young age, who has lived all the United States and encourages her to pursue her desires, which is a terrible temptation for Willa. However, I absolutely loved how Trueblood dealt with this relationship and showed Willa's internal conflict with her Catholic upbringing and sense of right/wrong, which is challenged by herself finally growing into herself. I thought that was realistic and how Catholicism can be restricting and confusing to someone growing up in the religion in a changing time.

It’s 1936 and Willa MacCarthy is certain she has no options. She’s known since she was 12 that she would become a postulate at the Convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Spirit and take her vows. The only girl in this Irish Catholic family, her Mam & Da and four protective brothers expect her to become a nun.
San Francisco is coming back to life as the building of the Golden Gate Bridge is bringing the citizens hope with so many construction jobs. Even though dangerous, the lure of steady paychecks is worth the risks involved. The MacCarthy boys are willing to wait to be chosen to work on the bridge, while Willa, now 18, secretly reads Grey’s Anatomy in her bedroom and attends parties with her somehow wealthy high school friend, Cara Reilly. Willa and her brothers face the same decisions as youth do today: respect parental expectations or follow your calling? Willa’s chance meeting of Dr. Katherine Winston certainly seems to acknowledge the peace she finds when “doctoring,’ as opposed to the deep fear that envelops her in the pew at church. Finding her voice, coping with guilt, confession & forgiveness and allowing for failures to become achievement, are just some of the issues dealt with by Willa and her family.
Mam & Da’s life long dream of having her enter the Convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Spirit has a profound impact on Willa. Dr. Katherine Winston, who mentors and encourages Willa, Sam Butler, whose transient life Willa changes, and the struggling Cleery family at the Hooverville camp, all play important roles in Wilhelmina MacCarthy’s decision to take her vows and enter the convent or follow her heart to become a doctor.
Willa’s dilemma of choosing between honoring her parents and the women of her past by entering the convent or following her call to be a doctor, the “hand of God in the world,” will keep you “praying and hoping” until the final page.

Willa is the granddaughter of Irish immigrants who settled in San Francisco. During the Depression, her dad tries to make ends meet by running a small pub. Willa was told when she was six that she would become a nun, as family tradition stated, but Willa discovered a Gray's Anatomy book in the trash and wants to pursue medicine. When her brother Paddy cuts off two of his fingers, it's Willa's quick thinking and knowledge that keeps Paddy from bleeding to death. The doctor he's taken to is a woman who offers to let Willa work with her. From then on, Willa fights a inner battle between lying to and disappointing her parents or living the life she chooses. She and Dr. Winston work with the poor and the men building the Golden Gate Bridge. The more she works with Dr. Winston, the more she struggles with her decision.

Amy Trueblood weaves a compelling story, in Across a Broken Shore, that combines the building of the bridge with the first women physicians in the area. I could not put it down! It will be November before this released. You'll want to read it. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!

This book was beautifully written and absolutely captivating. I found myself feeling every emotion right along with Willa. She is an extremely likable character and, even though her circumstances and the time period are so vastly different from my own, I found Willa very relatable as well.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I love a historical fiction, especially about a time or place I know little about, and this exploration of the building of the Golden Gate Bridge and the struggles of early 20th century female doctors was an interesting look at this historical period and place I had previously read little about. The character of Willa was by turns hesitant and feisty as she came to terms with her own ambitions in life, and her relationship with Sam was carefully built.

However I did find this book quite hard going, and felt there was quite a lot of repetition. Willa's teenage perspective was quite melodramatic, and her angst about guiltily feeling she should follow her parents' wishes and be a nun, while longing to become a doctor, was repeated endlessly. In the end, the conflict was wrapped up relatively quickly and painlessly, and I felt there was a missed opportunity to see this being built up a little more subtly, particularly regarding Willa's relationship with her parents.

I also noticed lots of minor inconsistencies - for example it took Willa ages to come up with how she knew the doctor to her friend and her friend's mum (and even then Cara was the one who came up with a story), then ten pages later told her brother it was chilling how easily she'd been able to lie. There were also priests who were sympathetic on one page, then staring at her.on the next. Perhaps the average reader would not notice these things.

Finally, I found the dialogue quite forced at times, with characters speaking unrealistically, for example using similes (e.g. Paddy: 'I wish I didn't have hair like a newly minted penny') and all sounding quite similar to each other. This was particularly noticeable in the case of Simon, who is meant to have come from Ireland only a year before, but sounds like an American lad, with no Irish idioms or turns of phrase at all.

Many fans of historical fiction with a hint of romance will enjoy this I'm sure, although it didn't quite hit the spot for me.

Across a Broken Shore by Amy Trueblood is a moving and truly beautiful story. I found myself sneaking away to read a few more pages at every possible opportunity. It is a story about a woman limited by society and family expectations, who will need to stand up to the most important people in her lives to realize her true potential. It is a story of familial love, self-discovery, the gift of mentorship, and following your heart. Although it is historical fiction, these are lessons that are still relevant for young women today. Set in San Francisco in the 1930's, the book also gives us fascinating perspective into the lives of the men who built the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm so grateful Amy Trueblood gave me the chance to get to know Willa MacCarthy-- I was sad to see it end!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

This book was amazing! I was hooked from the beginning because of Willa and her brothers, but her determination and dreams had me vested in her future. I rooted for her throughout the whole book. While this book was on the short side, it was an amazing read. The underlying theme was never give up and always stand your ground even when it might upset someone else because you are responsible for your own happiness.

This book had such positive early reviews that I was expecting to love it, but I didn’t at all. The concept and themes were interesting - the Depression, the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, the idea of a woman becoming a doctor before that was an accepted thing, the adolescent struggle to define oneself vs meet family expectations - but the execution was honestly terrible. First, the writing just wasn’t very good. The dialogue in particular was awkward and painful to read, and didn’t flow naturally at all. Second, the stories told come across as trite and overdone, and not nuanced or relatable. Third, a lot of the story is unrealistic. Despite the backdrop of the Depression, we see very little of it outside of homeless people in Hoovervilles. We’re told that Willa’s family will be glad for one less mouth to feed, but they seem to be living just fine, and she can even afford nice Christmas gifts for her friends. Meanwhile, Dr. Winston only treats poor people and hardly ever gets paid and often turns down people’s offers of payments, and her husband is away looking for work, but somehow she’s well off and can afford to pay for Willa’s schooling? And even though she had some hard times at school, now they all love and respect her and nobody holds on to sexist ideas? It’s just all very... contrived. Overall it just felt very high-handed, cliched, and hard to relate to. Disappointing.

Review Run Date: 04/24/2019
Review Posted: From Jen's Bookshelf Blog and Goodreads, will also be posting about my review on my instagram @fromjensbookshelf

Across a Broken Shore by Amy Trueblood

Read: 04/22-04/24

Publication Date: November 5, 2019

The last thing eighteen-year-old Wilhelmina “Willa” MacCarthy wants is to be a nun. It’s 1936, and as the only daughter amongst four sons, her Irish–Catholic family is counting on her to take her vows—but Willa’s found another calling. Each day she sneaks away to help Doctor Katherine Winston in her medical clinic in San Francisco’s Richmond District.

Keeping secrets from her family only becomes more complicated when Willa agrees to help the doctor at a field hospital near the new bridge being built over the Golden Gate. Willa thinks she can handle her new chaotic life, but as she draws closer to a dashing young ironworker and risks grow at the bridge, she discovers that hiding from what she truly wants may be her biggest lie of all. 

First off: Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with a e-book copy in exchange for my honest review!

What I Liked:

There was so much that I enjoyed about this book but I'll start with the general concept overall. I immediately fell in love with the historical fiction story of a young woman who is interested in the medical field. Set against the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge and you have a wonderful story. Willa was a fantastic main character. Her struggle between her family obligations and her duties was very well done. Everyone at some point has felt that struggle, although maybe not as extreme as Willa's. I also loved that we got a female main character that was interested in the science field. Oftentimes I find with YA that the strong female characters have to be warriors, but this book challenged that concept by showing us a strong female character who chose to healing as her battle against the patriarchy.

The plot kept me invested and I quickly found myself cheering for Willa. Her relationships with everyone in the book were an important aspect of that. Each one represented something different. Watching her interactions with Dr. Winston as she learned that her dreams of being a doctor were not impossible was truly inspiring. Sam was such a great love interest for her. I especially enjoyed watching her bond with Simon and Maeve.

What I Didn't Like:

There is one part of the ending that I didn't like but I am not going to say what it was and spoil the book for everyone. However, I will just say I don't quite feel that it was necessary for the plot but I guess I can see why the author chose to do it. I think I would have enjoyed the ending of the book even more if it hadn't happened though.

I do also want to note that while I have a personal interest in the medical field and was not bothered there are a few scenes that are graphic due to the nature of the topics addressed in the story. They do not take away from the brilliance of this book.

Overall, this was a fantastic historical fiction book that is inspiring for all young girls and women everywhere.

Rating: 10/10

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A wonderful story of independence and tradition by Amy Trueblood, Willa is a brilliantly clever young girl who longs to be a doctor after she sees Dr Winston treating her brother. But her Irish Catholic family want her to enter a nunnery to follow tradition. With just a hint of romance, this book was perfect for a Sunday read!

Across a Broken Shore by Amy Trueblood is a story set in 1936 San Fransico, centered around Willa, an Irish Catholic girl who is split between two different worlds. Her parents wanting her to carry on the family tradition of being a nun, and her dreams of being a Docter. An accident with one of her brothers gives her the opportunity to practice medicine under Docter Katherine Winston. Pulled between her dreams and obligation as time goes on and more secrets and lies start pilling on top of her. Willa will finally have to make the ultimate decision please her parents or her dreams. A lovely story of grief and the power of family, exploring the bond between parent and child and how far both sides will take it to keep up tradition and respect.

I read Amy Trueblood's debut, NOTHING BUT SKY, so I knew that ACROSS A BROKEN SHORE would be right up my alley! Plus, I love historical fiction and 1930s San Francisco? Yes please!

Immediately, I connected with Willa and her desire to become a doctor--a job held by primarily men during that time. Her spunk and drive were admirable and I found myself relating so much to her! As someone who believes very strongly in following your passion, I found Willa's story so empowering!

I also particularly loved learning about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, a topic I knew virtually nothing about. It's clear that the author did a lot of research on the topic, and I really appreciated all the meticulous details. So intriguing! An excellent backdrop for the story!

Overall, an excellent read! I highly recommend!

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I enjoyed this historical fiction account about the building of the Golden gate bridge. The well researched details of the men who risked life to construct and paint the bridge was evident of the authors attention to detail. I appreciated the details of what it would have been like for a girl to enter a convent and to practice medicine all while trying to hold onto her Catholic religion. The romance in the novel was sweet. Great read!