The Desert Nurse in Aussie Readers

Mar 18, 2018 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, 5000-books, 2018-release, own-read, historical-fiction, arc, reviewing-by-request

Sublime, captivating, heartbreaking, brilliant! These words and more describe Aussie author Pamela Hart’s latest novel. The Desert Nurse is set in the early 1900s when a young Evelyn Northey had just turned twenty-one and expected to receive her mother’s inheritance so that she could study in Sydney to become a doctor – a dream she’d held since she was thirteen years of age. But her father was a staid, old fashioned man, and although a doctor himself, refused to allow his daughter the same privi Sublime, captivating, heartbreaking, brilliant! These words and more describe Aussie author Pamela Hart’s latest novel. The Desert Nurse is set in the early 1900s when a young Evelyn Northey had just turned twenty-one and expected to receive her mother’s inheritance so that she could study in Sydney to become a doctor – a dream she’d held since she was thirteen years of age. But her father was a staid, old fashioned man, and although a doctor himself, refused to allow his daughter the same privilege. He would hold her money until she turned thirty, or until she married, in which case the money would become her husband’s…

Training with a friend of her father’s in the Taree Manning Base Hospital as a nurse was the best Evelyn could do. She was grateful beyond words for his help – and when she presented the certificate to her father and he ripped it up, she informed him she had another; she was also heading to Cairo as a nurse and there was nothing he could do to stop her. World War I had begun – doctors and nurses would be needed, and Evelyn was determined to do her bit.

As the Heliopolis Palace was turned into the 1st Australian General Hospital, patients began arriving from the disastrous Dardanelles campaign; some were walking wounded, others had shocking injuries. But Dr William Brent, although struggling with a weak leg from polio as a child, was a hard-working, doggedly determined and compassionate doctor, and with Sister Northey by his side, they often worked twenty hours straight in theatre, with barely a break.

Four years of blood, sweat and tears – of heartache and loss; of hope and fear. And feelings that grew, whether they wanted them to or not. What would be the outcome for Evelyn and William – for the many others affected by a horrific and unnecessary war?

Pamela Hart writes historical fiction with seeming ease. The words flow; the research is obvious; the pages turn themselves. I’ve loved her previous historical fiction novels, and this one didn’t disappoint. The cover is perfect for the story; the red-haired beauty is Evelyn to a tee – the background picture of the hospital tents on the front line as I imagined. I can’t recommend The Desert Nurse highly enough.

With thanks to Hachette AU for my ARC to read and review.
...more

38 likes · Like · see review

Jul 09, 2018 Helen rated it it was amazing

This is an amazing story, a story of courage and strength, there are so many emotions throughout this book, it is heart wrenching at times and just so very moving, as MS Hart takes us back to World War 1 and the extraordinary women who nurse our soldiers during a bitter and bloody conflict and the love that they found. I can’t highly recommend this book enough, it is so beautifully written a must read.

Evelyn Northey comes from Taree in country NSW her father is a Doctor and when her mother passe This is an amazing story, a story of courage and strength, there are so many emotions throughout this book, it is heart wrenching at times and just so very moving, as MS Hart takes us back to World War 1 and the extraordinary women who nurse our soldiers during a bitter and bloody conflict and the love that they found. I can’t highly recommend this book enough, it is so beautifully written a must read.

Evelyn Northey comes from Taree in country NSW her father is a Doctor and when her mother passes away Evelyn is pulled out of school to assist as her father’s nurse, but it also stops Evelyn from doing what she wants to do most and that is study to become a doctor herself. She is strong and determined and ends up getting her nursing certificate behind her father’s back and when war breaks out, she does the unthinkable and enlists and is sent to Egypt and the Gallipoli campaign. Here Evelyn learns even more about medicine and makes many friends including Dr William Brent whom she becomes very close to.

William Brent is a polio survivor from a middle class family in Parramatta he studies and becomes a doctor and although he cannot enlist with the army he still makes sure that he gets himself to the war front to assist in any way he can, and no amount of pain will stop him from saving as many men as he can working hours in the operating theatre with Evelyn as his nurse. This brings them close together and they become friends along the way.

MS Hart describes the settings so beautifully, the countries torn apart by war, the people that are hurt, their pain and suffering and the medical staff that do what they can in such at times really tough spots, but the feelings of the fabulous characters tell us so much more, I felt so close to Evelyn and Will as they try so hard to deny the love that is growing between them through such a testing time in life. The question do they, or do they not marry, both have their reasons for not wanting to but will love conquer?

I loved this compelling, moving and emotional story from start to finish and honestly cannot highly recommend it enough, MS Hart has a way with words that brings all of her characters to life on the pages, bought me to tears at times, I felt the pain but I also smiled many times as well, thank you MS Hart this one is going to stay with me for a long time.
...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2018 Bree T rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, australian, historical-fiction, romance, war

This was such a delightful, thought provoking story.

Evelyn Northey is intelligent and driven and desperate to become a doctor. She has the means to do so, having an inheritance from her mother but the terms of her mother’s will mean that Evelyn does not come into her money until she either marries (and then it goes to her husband) or she reaches her majority. Until then it is controlled by her father and he is adamant that medicine is no place for a woman. They can make competent nurses and assi This was such a delightful, thought provoking story.

Evelyn Northey is intelligent and driven and desperate to become a doctor. She has the means to do so, having an inheritance from her mother but the terms of her mother’s will mean that Evelyn does not come into her money until she either marries (and then it goes to her husband) or she reaches her majority. Until then it is controlled by her father and he is adamant that medicine is no place for a woman. They can make competent nurses and assistants when trained correctly but they are far too emotional to make the sort of decisions that medicine requires and he completely refuses permission for Evelyn to become a doctor and also to even get any formal nursing qualifications. She can assist him in his practice and that’s it. Unbeknownst to him, Evelyn is assisted by a doctor at the local hospital to get the qualifications she needs. Upon learning that her majority is 30 and not 21 as she first thought, Evelyn cannot face more years ahead working with her domineering father and so when war breaks out, she enlists in the army as a nurse.

World War 1 in terms of history, is not that long ago. Yes it’s 100 years and progress in many areas has been incredibly rapid since then – and this book showcases that one of those areas is women’s rights. Evelyn, as an unmarried woman, is forced to suffer under the authority of her father. He is against her fulfilling her dream to study medicine and become a doctor and no amount of attempting to reason has any impact on him. Evelyn makes up her mind quite early that she wishes to never marry – that will just give another man authority over her and he’ll also be given control of her inheritance from her mother. Having been completely ignored in her wishes, Evelyn has no desire to ever subject herself to that for a second time. Enlisting in the army as a nurse and being sent to Cairo to tend the wounded from places like Gallipoli gives her the first sort of freedom, even though she’s under army regulations. It’s a mix of foreign adventure but also terrible tragedy as they see young man after young man through terrible injuries and worse.

When she enlists, Evelyn meets Dr William Brent. Despite the obvious and immediate attraction between them that continues as they work together in Cairo, both firmly believe there’s no future in marriage for either of them. William is a polio survivor who walks with a limp and has an injured hip. He knows that quite often, polio survivors go downhill with age and he doesn’t want to subject himself onto a wife who may end up with a severely disabled husband. William is kind and supportive of Evelyn in all ways – he offers to help her with her Latin in order to her to fulfil her dream of studying medicine on her own and he seems exactly the sort of man who would not exert authority over his wife in the way that Evelyn’s father did over the women in his life. Evelyn and William are both so tempted but their insecurities, determination and fears hold them back. Evelyn can’t be sure that William wouldn’t change after marriage, want her to have babies and stay home, give up her medicine dream and William doesn’t want to take the risk of giving Evelyn someone to care for in a nurse/patient role rather than being husband/wife.

I absolutely loved this book, it was such a multi-layered read. On one hand, it’s showcasing the fight for equality and women’s rights and the struggle of being in a time where you’re beholden to the men in your life. Evelyn is lucky to have a brother that supports her and the two of them have a great relationship (he also enlists to fight) but her relationship with her father is damaged and broken by his inability to understand her. And even worse, he doesn’t want to understand her or even believe that he should try. I don’t read a lot of books that center around WWI but whenever I do, I always enjoy them so much. This is brutal in terms of showcasing nursing in a place that’s removed from fighting but inundated with serious casualties in a foreign and often challenging location. The pace is relentless but Evelyn thrives -it does amazing things for her confidence and self-belief. I loved her bond with William, how they could talk about anything and the support they each found. I understood Evelyn’s decision not to marry – it made sense for her at the time, given what she wanted out of her life. And I also understood William’s need not to be a burden in the future for someone but at the same time, these are both obstacles that can be overcome, for the right relationship!

This is the second Pamela Hart book I’ve read now (and the characters from the first one that I read, appear very briefly in this book) and there’s also a character in this that has her own book – so that’s now top of my wishlist! This was such a riveting read, I became really invested in Evelyn and her journey towards becoming a doctor – I kept hoping that she wouldn’t let go of her dream and would find a way to make it work, even without her father’s financial and emotional support. The struggle for equality really resonated with me too, made me think about how far things have come in the time since WWI (and how far there is still to go, in many ways). The characters in Hart’s stories are women doing their best to live their dreams, to break through constraints of society and become valuable contributors in the ways that they want to be.

Absolutely fabulous and highly recommended! Especially for anyone who has an interest in WWI, women’s history and feminism as well as a little romance.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2018 Marg rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book, aww2018

Entertaining audiobook with interesting history. Thought it was really interesting that the author chose to focus on this theatre of war rather than on the European story which is more usual.

Now I need to read The War Bride!

3 likes · Like · see review