Nightingales : Florence and Her Family - Hardcover

Gill, Gillian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 034082302X ISBN 13: 9780340823026

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, 2004

Synopsis

Florence Nightingale is history's most famous nurse, the epitome of gentle, nurturing femininity. But behind the public image of 'The Lady With the Lamp' was a brilliant, combative, complicated woman, struggling to escape a web of social prejudice and familial expectations. From girlhood, Florence wanted to dedicate her life to nursing in public hospitals, even though nursing was then work done only by women of the lowest classes. Florence's family were determined to stop her. Eventually Florence had her way, and her nursing mission took her to the filthy, disease-ridden military hospitals of Scutari and Balaclava. Her work during the Crimean War made her an international heroine, and thereafter she wielded an influence over public health policy that was unparalleled for a woman of the time. Radical in her ideas, eccentric in her way of life, Florence was often at war with her family, but love and loyalty always triumphed in the end. The other Nightingales adored and criticised her, understood and misread her, supported and thwarted her, defined and were defined by her. Gillian Gill's absorbing biography brings the dynamic and complicated social milieu of the Victorian age dramatically to life. Fascinating new light is shed not just on one of the era's most influential social figures, but on the entire era through which the young Florence and her family lived.

About this title

About the Author

Gillian Gill is the author of studies of Agatha Christie and Mary Baker Eddy, and translator of books on philosophy, psychoanalysis and feminist theory. She lives in Boston.

Review

'A dynamic and absorbing account, written in a lively and captivating manner, of a remarkable family and its even more remarkable scion, Florence Nightingale. Gill has used her sources to maximum effect, engaging the reader in a pacy narrative that brings that far distant 'other country', the Victorian age, so vividly to life. I highly recommend it!' -- Alison Weir, author of Eleanor of Aquitaine 20040804 'A beautifully written and nuanced portrait. Combining meticulous scholarship with a keen understanding of the individual psyche and family dynamics, Gill infuses her subject with rare vitality and untangles the strands of historical, social, and personal forces that determine the course of female life... A fascinating window into one Victorian woman that becomes a lens through which we can view ourselves.' -- Susan Hertog, Author of Anne Morrow Lindbergh 20041001 'Gillian Gill's absorbing biography reveals the hidden side of this brave and remarkable woman' -- Sunday Express 20040801 'An appropriately unfancy and practically accomplished biography that makes you feel the force of this extraordinary personality' -- The Herald 20040901 'This rousing biography recounts the challenges [Nightingale] overcame in order to become history's most famous nurse and an icon of feminine mercy.' -- You 20040901 'Altogether, Florence Nightingale comes out of the biography undiminished but far better understood. You could hardly ask much more of a biography' -- The Scotsman 20040901 'Gill does honor to her subject while providing a vivid and compellingly readable account of the family whose loyal support was crucial to her achievement.' -- Miranda Seymour, New York Times 20040801 'Nightingales brilliantly captures the unique intensity both of individuals and an age. Much more than a biography of a remarkable woman, Gill vividly evokes the complex and fascinating inter-relations of an exceptional family. She engages her reader at every step as we travel with the fiercely intelligent and charismatic Florence Nightingale on her remarkable life journey.' -- Anna Beer, author of My Just Desire: The Life of B 20040901 'vigorous and enlightening' -- Sunday Telegraph 20040801 'expansive, richly detailed, generous to a fault; Gill's skills may well set a new standard for the novelistic mode of biography... Gill's knowledge of the era is so profound, her judgment so sound, and her narrative voice so cozy that it transforms this saint's life into an enveloping treat that serious readers will delight in plumbing.' -- Publishers Weekly 20040601

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 034082302X
• ISBN 13: 9780340823026
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 560