London, 1845: orphan Eleonora Beady, raised by the eccentric surgeon Horace Croft after losing her parents to a deadly pandemic, knows little about ordinary life. While other young ladies are trained to embroider and paint flowers, Nora hones her skills in stitching open wounds and anatomical illustrations of autopsy findings. These are times when women face drastic consequences if caught practicing medicine, but at Croft's private clinic, Nora is his most trusted – and of course, also his most secret – assistant. That is until the arrival of the new surgical resident, Dr. Daniel Gibson. Dr. Gibson has no idea that Horace's charming, sharp, and quiet young ward is a more qualified and resourceful surgeon than he is. To protect Dr. Croft and his clinic from scandal and total collapse, Nora must learn to play a new and very difficult role for her – the role of a proper young lady. But even pretense has its limits. Nora cannot turn away and ignore the suffering of patients, even if it means giving Gibson the power to destroy everything she has worked for. And when she becomes involved in an experiment and discovery that could forever change the field, Nora finds herself facing an insurmountable...
