ISBN: 0 9544416 5 6 SB208 pp £12.99 or 19 euros Published by Cualann Press - www.cualann.com.
As the author points out, there are few books available about the role of nurses in the Great War; and the steroetypical image of the Great War nurse is that of the upper middle class young woman VAD. This book concentrates on the role of trained nurses, set against the backdrop of events both on the Western Front and in England and Ireland.
Yvonne McEwen, herself a trained nurse, takes us from 1914 and the outbreak of war, to the end of hostilities and beyond. Three nurses figure prominently in the book, Evelyn Luard, Catherine Blackand Millicent Peterkin; their diaires and memories are skillfully added to the story, with their experiences of nursing in Casualty Clearing Staions and in Hospital Barges, Hospital Trains and Stationary Hospitals, often under very trying conditions and dealing with appalling wounds and injuries.
The development of nursing thechniques and the new difficulties that practioners faced with the advent of modern warfare are explored, and the author also laments in the epilogue that many of these techniques were largely forgotten, only to be hailed as new innovations many years later.
Events on the home front, particularly the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 are woven into the narrative, with the demands placed on hospitals and staff following the event well described.
Throughout the book, the vicissitudes of the nurses to gain state recognition, and their resentment of the untrained help they were forced to accept are well described, through quotes from the nursing press of the period.
At the end of the book, a roll of honour gives name to 373 nurses who died during the Great War, and the struggles many nurses faced post war are highlighted. This book is a fitting tribute to the nurses and women of the period. As a trained nurse myself, I found the book particularly interesting. Highly recommended.
Reviewer: Michelle Young
