Publication Date: November 4, 2025
Inspired by the groundbreaking discoveries of ether and chloroform anesthesia, William Stewart Halsted pursues a surgical career with relentless ambition, daring to perform operations deemed impossible by his peers. His reputation skyrockets with each bold success— until his quest for an effective local anesthetic leads him to inject himself with cocaine.
Caroline, the niece of Confederate General Wade Hampton, seeks to escape the constraints of post-war South Carolina by training as a nurse. When she takes a position at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital, she finds herself captivated by the brilliant yet troubled chief of surgery, Dr. Halsted.
Till Taught by Pain is a poignant exploration of love and sacrifice, as Caroline grapples with the difficult choice between enabling her husband’ s addiction and supporting his pioneering career. As their lives intertwine, both must confront the consequences of ambition, the nature of love, and the toll of personal demons on their shared dreams.
A quest for a life-changing medical advancement leads to an unanticipated side effect for a pioneering surgeon.
Author Susan Coventry brings the late 19th century to life through the work of Dr. William Stewart Halsted in Till Taught by Pain. It offers important insight into the early days of anesthesia and the search for an alternative to ether and chloroform.
The author leverages her own medical expertise to deliver a fascinating look into William’s experiments with cocaine as a local anesthetic. While cocaine was considered a legal drug during that time period, his self-experimentation proves to be no match for the drug’s addictive properties.
By his side is his wife, Caroline, who also serves as a nurse. Together, they navigate a path of discovery that will open new doors in the operating room, but it comes at a terrible personal cost. She faces an impossible dilemma of supporting his career while enabling his addiction.
The main characters reflect a desire for change and a willingness to forge new paths, but neither one really anticipated the impact of William’s addiction on their career or relationships.
Till Taught by Pain provides a window into the race for medical advancements and the collateral damage along the way.
Susan Coventry is a retired physician with a lifelong historical fiction obsession. Her first novel, The Queen’ s Daughter, was a YA historical set in the Middle Ages. She has since switched from YA to adult novels and moved on from medieval Europe to the turn-of-the-20th-century U.S. She lives in Louisville, KY with her historian husband, Brad Asher.
