The Nurse's Secret by Amada Skenandore is a fictional book that was written amidst a a true life back drop. Set in New York City a young woman that was orphaned at an early age works to survive in the only way she knows how, as a pickpocket in the city. She is one of the best and has the street smarts to survive and even thrive, but she wants more for herself. She takes a few risks and they backfire placing her as a murder suspect. With the cops scouring the city looking for her she has nowhere to hide. Desperate for a solution she decides to apply to go through the training to be one of the Bellevue nurses in training. The nursing program was prestigious and looked closely at the morals and background of each student. The main character had neither of those things going for her. Undeterred, she lies and connives to be accepted into the prestigious school. It becomes a balancing act between carrying on the perpetual lie and learning enough to cement her place in the school. Meanwhile, the real murderer is still on the loose and getting closer.
As the main character as a pickpocket is not the most savory of characters but as a reader one can' help but love her. She was dealt a hand in life and has survived. She is intrinsically a good person even with her past history and all the lies and subterfuge required to remain in the nursing program.. Yet she keeps drawing attention to herself Both bad attention and good attention.
Through it all, the character grows and matures and becomes the person that you know she is capable of being. The question throughout the book is simply, "how will she free herself from her checkered past"?
This book was a fantastic read. I was hooked from the very beginning when it was simply the tale of a a pickpocket's life in the city. I was perplexed about how the author was going to make the leap from pickpocket to a nurse's secret, but the author managed it fantastically.
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