Did you understand Julia's hesitation about pursuing a romantic relationship with Fred?

Did you understand Julia's hesitation about pursuing a romantic relationship with Fred? How does outside opinion influence relationships? Compare the rumor mill of Base Hospital 21 to today's social media. How do their relative positions affect their willingness to "let the chips fall where they may" when they begin seeing each other more seriously?

Yes, it is important to be professional in everyone’s workplace. Romantic relationships can add problems at the workplace. People can be accused of showing favoritism and always there is the gossip that distracts everyone from doing their job.

Being the professional that she was, she tried to keep everything on a non personal basis. I think she also thought she would never be married so kept her distance to avoid being involved, which might lead to being hurt.

Absolutely. Rule number 1...do not get your honey where you get your money.

I absolutely understood. Mixing romance and business is tricky, particularly so in such a limited and intense situation. The awkwardness that can result if things don't go well, and the risk of preferential treatment and unfairness if the relationship flourishes create minefields that no one needs.

Yes, she thought her career, especially advancements in the nursing profession could be negatively impacted if she were romantically involved with the doctor. I can see why she would worry about that. She would be more negatively impacted than he would. It probably wouldn’t affect him at all.

Yes, she absolutely wanted to pursue her career as a nurse, thus it is better to separate her personal life and professional life. Yes, there can be friendships during her time served during the war and these friendships will always be treasured but not as romance could be, especially during active duty because of the negative impact that could be portrayed. But, as the author says in the "conversation with the author," her role as author is to write what happened or could have happened with relationships, and this helps bring the story to life and makes it more enjoyable.

I completely understood. It's much the same in the workplace today. If a man and woman have a relationship and it ends, the woman more often than not suffers some consequence. Although it could be argued that the #metoo movement has empowered women more in the workplace.

Absolutely. It's not a good idea to mix business and pleasure.

It's always the woman who suffers consequences when involved in work relationship

Yes. It’s the realistic outcome given Julia’s aspirations and sense of self.

Romance with a coworker can undermine authority and respect, but the ways of the heart are hard to control when temptation comes calling.

Absolutely. In 1917 and 1918, Julia's involvement in a romantic relationship with a doctor in her unit, should it become known, might result in her being sent home. Madame Curie reported that "people were talking" and warned Julia, initially, that romance with Fred was an unwise move on her part and could impact negatively her career. Her final advice to Julia in Paris was to pursue personal happiness. In the end, Ms Wood never found any compelling evidence of letters of such a relationship and it seemed Fred and Julia did go their separate ways.

Absolutely. She was absolutely right to be cautious and protect her career and position.

Yes. She didn't want to risk being sent home. Romance and work rarely work out. And if Julia and Fred did have a relationship and it ended, it would have been difficult to continue working together.

Yes, certainly a sign of the times. It was very strict in 1917. She had to be professional at all times. Duty first.

There was more than her job to think about with Fred. He wanted more children and she didn't want him to give up that dream for her.

Definitely. She loved being a nurse and enjoyed success in her field. A love affair would have ended her career. Workplace love affairs are still risky.

I did understand her reasoning for not wanting a personal relationship with Fred. She did not want gossip among the other nurses and doctors. I did, however, feel that if she had really wanted a serious relationship with him, she would have shown more interest in that direction.

That was Julia's one weakness - believing that anyone could love her. With both of them being in supervisory roles they definitely needed to be careful, but it was solely Julia's lack of confidence in the matters of the heart that kept them apart.

I really think Julia was more interested in her career than in fostering a relationship. I think she and Fred would not have stayed together even if war had not broken out.