Synopsis:

The year 1895 was filled with memorable historical events: the Dreyfus Affair divided France; Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta address; Richard Olney, United States Secretary of State, expanded the effects of the Monroe Doctrine in settling a boundary dispute between the United Kingdom and Venezuela; and Oscar Wilde was tried and convicted for gross indecency under Britain’s recently passed law that made sex between males a criminal offense. When news of Wilde’s conviction went out over telegraphs worldwide, it threw a small Nevada town into chaos.

This is the story of what happened when the lives of its citizens were impacted by the news of Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment. It is a chronicle of hatred and prejudice with all its unintended and devastating consequences, and how love and friendship bring strength and healing.

About the Author:

Paulette Mahurin, an award-winning author, is a Nurse Practitioner who lives in Ojai, California with her husband Terry and their two dogs–Max and Bella. She practices women’s health in a rural clinic and writes in her spare time.

My Review:

Every now and again I get asked to read and review a book that is outside of the normal genres that I tend to stick to. Paulette Mahurin asked me if I would read her book and give an honest review. So following her sending me a copy of her book, here’s my thoughts.

Firstly this is a historical novel in setting, and things were very different in then to how they are now, but then some of those things remain the same today. The author however has captured the period well, it felt authenticate, and I really believed as I was reading it that it was indeed 1895. The language and behaviours of the characters also felt very real and the story was very well written.

That story covers a very hard topic; the elements of bigotry and intolerance were well captured as were the gossips and tale-tellers. I really believed that those characters were as hard as they were portrayed and had me feeling sympathy for the targets of their malice. There were times when I truly felt uncomfortable, and this is a credit to the author to be able to put the reader firmly in that place and portray the story in that way.
In individual characters were also particularly well painted, and came across as whole and believable. I particularly liked Charley, and really felt like I went on the same roller-coaster journey that he did through the book.

Despite this book being outside of my normal “comfort-zone”, I did really enjoy it and would recommend it.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars – I really liked it.

The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap by Paulette Mahurin is available from Amazon in the UK and US.

You can find other details about the book and the author on Facebook, Twitter and the authors own website.

Profits from all book sales are going to charity.

Win Your Own Copy!

The author has very kindly offered one free e-book copy (kindle only) of her book to a lucky reader of this blog. To be in with a chance of winning, please leave a comment to this post (trackbacks and “likes” don’t count). I’ll pick a winner in seven days (2nd February 2012).