World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford goes to dangerous lengths to investigate a wounded soldier’s background—and uncover his true loyalties—in this thrilling and atmospheric entry in the bestselling “vivid period mystery series” (New York Times Book Review).At the foot of a tree shattered by shelling and gunfire, stretcher-bearers find an exhausted officer, shivering with cold and a loss … shivering with cold and a loss of blood from several wounds. The soldier is brought to battlefield nurse Bess Crawford’s aid station, where she stabilizes him and treats his injuries before he is sent to a rear hospital. The odd thing is, the officer isn’t British—he’s French. But in a moment of anger and stress, he shouts at Bess in German.
When Bess reports the incident to Matron, her superior offers a ready explanation. The soldier is from Alsace-Lorraine, a province in the west where the tenuous border between France and Germany has continually shifted through history, most recently in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, won by the Germans. But is the wounded man Alsatian? And if he is, on which side of the war do his sympathies really lie?
Of course, Matron could be right, but Bess remains uneasy—and unconvinced. If he was a French soldier, what was he doing so far from his own lines . . . and so close to where the Germans are putting up a fierce, last-ditch fight?
When the French officer disappears in Paris, it’s up to Bess—a soldier’s daughter as well as a nurse—to find out why, even at the risk of her own life.more
The Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd is not a favorite of my while I really like and collect the Ian Rutledge series. Nurse Crawford is just not believable in her persistence in pursuing a mysterious happening among the soldiers on the battlefields in France. The description of battlefield medicine and the disastrous toll WWI took on Europe’s young men and as a result the toll it took on their families and marriagable women who lost the next generation of sons, and husbands and grandchildren that would never be born is pretty well done. But it is done better in the Maisie Dobbs series by J Winspear, who at least gives Dobbs a creditable reason to be looking into the same kinds of mysteries, that of being a detective. Crawford just seems nosy and unfeeling…which is a shame since she does seem like she could be very interesting.
A well written, interesting story.
Really great fiction writing!
Bess is a very believable character with a warm heart…..makes you want to stay with her all the way.
Torn by the oath she swore to her profession, her obligation to treat her patient and her loyalty to her country, a young nurse struggles with issues of right and wrong, life and death and the horrors of being near the front lines of a devastating and deadly war. The characters come alive as you participate in the first of mankinds’ deadly modern wars.
Love this series and all the recurring characters. Very informative about WW1
A very enjoyable read
great insight into characters and their “inner” life; totally absorbing! I love this author.
Satisfying read
I’m a history enthusiast so I enjoyed the setting of the book being WWI. I found the book a bit slow in parts, not as good as a previous Charles Todd book I had read.
Love the English who-done-it! Great characters
Another terrific Bess book.
I love Todd’s story-telling.
Yet another great series.
Excellent writer.
This is great historical fiction. I love all of the detail about life during WWI but not specifically about the battles.
A fascinating mystery, with enough historical surroundings to make it educational, too.
Great series!
Always entertaining. Great series.