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Book Reviewed by:
Peggy Kurkowski
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Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), known variously as the "Lady with the Lamp" or the "Ministering Angel" of the Crimean War (1853–1856), elevated the role of nursing into a profession—especially for women—in an era that had previously regarded female nurses with disdain. Relying on Nightingale's copious letters and journals and other documentary evidence, Melissa Pritchard's dazzling historical novel Flight of the Wild Swan brings this complex and idiosyncratic woman to exquisite life.
From an early age, Nightingale always knew her purpose. "I am drawn to sickness," the young girl thinks, recognizing that her mother, sister and other female relatives do not share the same feelings. Indeed, "Mama wonders how a family of ducks could have possibly hatched a wild swan like me," she muses in Pritchard's inspired ...
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