All readers are welcome to join our informal monthly book club meeting. This month’s book suggestion is “Women in White Coats” by Olivia Campbell, but you do not have to read the book to come to the meeting. Please email us at lislefreelibrary@gmail.com if you would like to attend virtually. Copies available at the circulation desk.

For fans of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls comes the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, revolutionizing the way women receive health care.

In the early 1800s, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness—a diagnosis could greatly limit their ability to find husbands, jobs or be received in polite society.

Motivated by personal loss and frustration over inadequate medical care, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake fought for a woman’s place in the male-dominated medical field. For the first time ever, Women in White Coats tells the complete history of these three pioneering women who, despite countless obstacles, earned medical degrees and paved the way for other women to do the same. Though very different in personality and circumstance, together these women built women-run hospitals and teaching colleges—creating for the first time medical care for women by women.

With gripping storytelling based on extensive research and access to archival documents, Women in White Coats tells the courageous history these women made by becoming doctors, detailing the boundaries they broke of gender and science to reshape how we receive medical care today.

Let the New Year begin with a new experience by stepping out of your “reading comfort zone” with this enthralling YA fantasy. From the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Raven Cycle, join us in this mesmerizing story of those who can bring parts of their dreams into reality… and those who will stop at nothing to destroy them.

All are invited to join us on Thursday, January 28th at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held via Zoom. Email us at the LisleFreeLibrary@gmail.com for the meeting link and passcode. Copies of this month’s book are available at the circulation desk!