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In her latest novel, Wendy Louise Bardsley has tackled the horrors
of the Crimean war with great empathy and, at the same time, has
vividly described the pioneer work of Florence Nightingale, as a
nurse in that conflict. Florence Nightingale had a calling that
took her away from a comfortable life and a marriage proposal to a
barracks hospital in Scutari, where she and her group of chosen
nurses, would tend sick, wounded and maimed soldiers in the most
foul of conditions. Florence had a great supporter for her mission,
Sidney Herbert, the Minister for War, and between them, with
steadfast perseverance, they secured the supplies of food,
medicines and other essentials, that made life bearable for the
hospital's patients and staff. In doing so, Florence Nightingale
brought a glimmer of hope and light to the lives of those in
darkest despair. As the Crimean war ended Florence Nightingale was
honoured to receive commendation for her work from Queen Victoria,
which signalled the start of a lifelong campaign to enhance the
much-treasured nursing profession. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE: A LIGHT IN
DARKEST CRIMEA is a stunning novel that will bring to the reader
the stark reality of war.
On the voyage to France Wordsworth meets the elegant Elizabeth
Montrose, who is travelling to Orleans to visit her nephew Pierre.
Wordsworth's plans are to visit Paris and Orleans so when Elizabeth
Montrose invites him to call on her, he gratefully accepts. There
he meets Pierre, stays at his splendid chateau and visits his
vineyard. Pierre is a generous man and gives freely to his workers
and the locals. But his generosity doesn't allay fears that as the
revolution spreads, his chateau and vineyard will become targets
for pillage and destruction. At the chateau Wordsworth meets the
beautiful Annette Vallon. They become inseparable but their lives
are clouded with fear. Revolutionary France is a dangerous place
for foreigners and Wordsworth must leave for his safety. Wordsworth
is distraught as Annette is expecting his child and he vows to
return when calmer times prevail. Back in England he befriends
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and they collaborate on works of poetry,
particularly the Lyrical Ballads. William and Dorothy return to the
Lake District and find Dove Cottage where they meet again a
childhood friend Mary Hutchinson. William and Mary fall in love but
Wordsworth has learned Annette gave birth to a daughter, his
daughter. He is drawn again to France to see Annette and their
daughter and after joyous times there he returns to England to
write, and with Annette's blessing, to marry Mary Hutchinson. This
is a splendid novel which captures the horrors of revolution and
the brilliance of Britain's best-loved poet.
In her excellent new novel, Wendy Louise Bardsley takes the reader
on a journey from Yorkshire to London, Wales, and Paris, as she
explores the remarkable life of Mary Wollstonecroft. As a young
woman, Mary copes with a bullying father, a subjugated mother, sees
young friends die in childbirth and from tuberculosis. And whilst
her elder brother Ned follows an unfettered path to a career as a
lawyer, Mary is deprived of a formal education. All of these
experiences combine to shape Mary's ideals for the improvement of
the lot of women, a subject she pursues passionately throughout her
adult life. Determined to improve her mind, Mary reads, writes and
associates with learned men of the day. Through her writing Mary
meets publisher Joseph Johnson, who introduces Mary not only to
several famous writers of the time, but also to artist Henri
Fuseli, with whom she becomes infatuated. With the French
Revolution raging, Mary travels to Paris to experience the terror
pervading the French capital. Whilst there, she meets and falls in
love with Gilbert Imlay, by whom she has a daughter. But Imlay
proves feckless, and the relationship, which began so passionately,
ends in tears. Back in London, Mary rejoins Joseph Johnson's
cultural circle which includes William Godwin, who has admired her
for a long-time. Mary and Godwin marry in March 1797 and in August
1797, their daughter, also called Mary and who will grow up to be
the future Mary Shelley, is born. But complications follow the
birth and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin dies on 10 September 1797,
aged just 38, leaving her seminal work, A Vindication of the Rights
of Woman, as a fitting epitaph to a remarkable story.
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