The Double Standard Sporting House
A Debut Novel Forthcoming January 20, 2026
Pre-Order Now →
A high-class brothel that entertains New York’s most powerful men, the Double Standard Sporting House’s deeper purpose is to fund a free clinic for women. When the Tammany Hall criminal syndicate takes over the city in 1868 and starts kidnapping girls, the house’s owner, Nell “Doc” Hastings, cannot stay quiet—especially after sixteen-year-old Vivie arrives at the clinic bruised and bleeding.
Resolved to seek justice for Vivie and girls like her, Doc builds an unlikely alliance with religious reformers, a rare honest ward cop, and an alluring newspaper publisher she can’t seem to keep away from. Even with their help, Doc will have to use her sharpest tools—secrets, guile, and a surgical blade—to prevent a dark turn in the sex trade.
Full of intrigue, friendship, and love, this timely story of a heroine erased from history by the sexual double standard reminds us that women help and heal one another, even when shameless criminals hold the highest seats of power.
Advance Praise for The Double Standard Sporting House
“A thought-provoking and moving exploration of the hard work and heart one woman puts into serving those who have suffered sexual violence and others who need a safe way to make a living in tough circumstances. Bernhard reveals with care the complicated layers that lie within the walls of the Double Standard Sporting House and shows how the kindness of one soul can bring healing and second chances.”
— Marjan Kamali, bestselling author of
The Lion Women of Teheran and The Stationary Shop
“This inventive novel manages, first of all, to bring the political chaos of 1868 New York City into shocking focus. It is against the backdrop of the corruption and crime fostered by the Tammany Hall political machine that Doc Nell Hastings fights for women’s health and welfare. Her focus is on women who are forced by circumstance to prostitution to survive. This day-to-day battle demands all Doc’s medical skills, compassion informed by pragmatism, intelligence and social agility. The Double Standard Sporting House is a moving story that captures the hypocrisies facing women of every era.”
— Sara Donati, bestselling author of
The Gilded Hour and Into the Wilderness