What a well-written story. It kept me on the edge of my seat and surprised me. I thought it went one way, but it went another. It honors the nurses of WWI while at the same time slowly unfolds a shocking secret. You really get to know the characters; you love them at times, hate them at others.They feel so real.
In a nutshell: The backstory is WWI France. A group of Scottish and English nurses are opening a hospital. An Australian girl joins them. Her goal is really to collect her much-too-young (15) brother and take him back home, but she gets immersed in the cause. She feels she belongs and she's needed, and she's got drive. She wants to be a doctor maybe one day... But fate does what it does.
The modern story is Iris's granddaughter. She's a doctor who has no idea the struggles Iris faced during the war. And finding out may just give her a new appreciation for the benefits she has had...
Heck, it made me appreciate what us woman have and can do nowadays. Not saying we don't still have barriers to break down, but as I said above, I felt this book was a great tributes to the nurses of WWI. Imagine tending the wounded, watching them die, shift after shift, driving an ambulance in the worse conditions, fighting to show the world you're capable of being a doctor.
The modern story also make me think on something many of us are guilty of...if we don't know about it, we can pretend it's not there... Is living in blindness, however, the solution? I'm not going to elaborate further. I'd hate to spoil it for others.
It's a book full of strong women, I'll say that. Iris for pretty much running a hospital, for being a mother before her time, for doing what had to be done even if it meant giving up her dreams. Violet...driving an ambulance night after night, doing what she felt was right in the end, striving to succeed. Miss Ivers...for running the hospital, starting it, standing up to others, uniting women, inspiring... And Grace, who though she doubts herself at times, manages motherhood while being a doctor herself.
I give this a four because it's a tad long-winded. There were times it could have gotten to the point more. But I really liked it.
ARC received via Netgalley.
This sounds so good! Looking forward to it even more now, especially after the mention of the "shocking secret" (I love reading novels about secrets from the past...)
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