Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Florence Nightingale is celebrated for her nursing work during the Crimean War, but she was surrounded by remarkable women like Martha Clough, Eliza Roberts, and Mary Seacole, who also made vital contributions. This book delves into Nightingale’s complex relationships with Betsy Cadwaladyr, a strong-willed caregiver known for her cooking skills, and Mother M. Francis Bridgeman, leader of the Irish Sisters of Mercy, who nursed cholera and dysentery victims long before reaching the battlefield. Against the backdrop of these diverse efforts, Nightingale faced the immense challenge of proving the value of nursing while navigating societal and medical resistance.
I very much enjoyed this book. Florence Nightingale is a name well-known in relation to nursing, and the work she did to ensure women nurses became respected in the medical field. I found the history of nursing that the author included very interesting. It provided a lot of nuances to the situation that happened in Crimea.

NetGalley, Bethany Swafford

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Superb writing from this author, a very eye catching cover, this book will go far, 5 stars. Blindingly excellent ... This book should come with a disclaimer as once you start reading you aren’t going to want to walk away. So insightful and lots of facts I'd never previously heard.

NetGalley, Michelle Coates

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed getting to learn about other nurses around the time of Florence Nightingale. The research was everything that I was looking for and enjoyed how everything that I wanted about this. Louise Wyatt has a strong writing style and was glad I got to read this.

NetGalley, Kathryn McLeer