Sisters of the Somme : true stories from a First World War field hospital

Following the outbreak of WWI, the Order of St. John appealed for volunteers to train as frontline medical staff at a major volunteer field hospital in Etaples, France. One such volunteer was Lily Fielding. Despite her training she was ill-prepared for the stench of gangrene and other gruesome realities of war. This book is a heart-warming account of camaraderie and compassion based on the true stories of the VAD nurses who were at the Somme. "I am liking it here very much and could never have thought I would for a moment. Of course there will always be days when the horror of nursing unnerves one." - Lily Fielding's diary, July 1916. Penny Starns is a writer and historian with a PhD in the history of medicine from the University of Bristol. She has written many books about female heroines in the twentieth century, including 'Odette: World War Two's Darling Spy' (The History Press, 2009), 'Surviving Tenko: The True Story of Margot Turner' (The History Press, 2010) and 'Blitz Families: The Children who Stayed Behind' (The History Press, 2012). Following the outbreak WWI, the British Red Cross appealed for volunteers to train as frontline medical staff, and a major volunteer field hospital was built at Etaples in France. Women volunteered for a variety of reasons. Some believed that they were responding to a vocational or religious calling, others were following a sweetheart to the front, whereas others had been carried away on the wave of jingoistic patriotism that had gripped the nation in 1914. One such volunteer was Lily Fielding. Despite her training, however, Lily and the young friends she was to make at the Somme were ill-prepared for the stench of gangrene and trench foot. Isolated as they were from friends and family at home, they forged new and close relationships with one another, establishing a camaraderie that was to last the entire war and beyond. This book is a heartwarming account of life in one field hospital at the Somme, based on the true stories of the nurses who were there. --Provided by publisher With First World War casualties mounting, there was an appeal for volunteers to train as front-line medical staff. Many women heeded the call: some responding to a vocational or religious calling, others following a sweetheart to the front, and some carried away on the jingoistic patriotism that gripped the nation in 1914. Despite their training, these young women were ill-prepared for the anguished cries of the wounded and the stench of gangrene and trench foot awaiting them at the Somme. Isolated from friends and family, most discovered an inner strength, forging new and close relationships with each other and establishing a camaraderie that was to last through the war and beyond. Based on the previously unpublished true stories of its nurses and medical staff, this book is a heart-warming account of the joys and sorrows of life in an extraordinary Somme field hospital.