Tracey Enerson Wood

The War Nurse, Tracey Enerson Wood, author
The author’s background in nursing informed a great deal of the narrative. In addition, one of the characters, Nora, was the great aunt of the author’s husband, so she was invested in telling the true history of the work of the unsung women who were the nurses during World War I, albeit around a narrative that is historic fiction. She takes some liberties, of course, to create a narrative, because there is not an abundance of information about them. She highlights the plight of women during the early days of the 20th century, when men ruled in all fields and thought of themselves as superior. Women were to be their obedient followers and caregivers, keeping house and taking employment that enhanced the men they worked for as nurses, secretaries, teachers, wives, etc. Not many fields were open to women, so they had to fight their way to the top rather than earn it.
Julia Catherine Stimson was gainfully and successfully employed in St. Louis at Washington University as the Superintendent of Nurses. She had also been the head of nurses at Harlem Hospital. After serving at the army base in Rouen, France, during World War I, she became The Chief of Nursing Services for the Red Cross, which was founded by Florence Nightingale. Because this is a novel, some of the characters are real, like Dr. Marie Curie, Dr. Fred Murphy, Julia Stimson and her brother Phil, Margaret Cox, Annie Goodrich, and Dr. Ernst, but many others are not, but were necessary to create the novel.
Julia Stimson’s insecurity because of her masculine looks is apparent throughout the story, and perhaps it was that issue that informed the path of her life, as well as the fact that the possibility of becoming a physician was not open to her. Although the story is based on her real background, much of the story is there to enhance the author’s message and is not fact, but the product of her supposition or imagination. Still, while little may be known of her private life, Stimson was a trailblazer for the cause of women, as she was responsible for empowering the nurses to earn the right to make decisions and to earn respect for their services, especially in emergency situations. It must be told, though, that men were often against giving the women any powers that would threaten their own.
Stimson dedicated herself to the care of others, first and foremost. She advanced through the ranks as she stood out as an exemplary nurse and supervisor, willing to go the extra mile, and sometimes, to stick her own neck out to advance the cause of their profession. The unknown flu pandemic, that threatened soldiers and citizens alike at that time, was highlighted, as was the difficulty of handling the recent pandemic that threw our world into turmoil. The author related the details of World War I authentically, and with regard to disease, even utilized the idea of masking and using social distancing to prevent the spread of disease. Through her narrative, the conflicting ideas about those issues that still rage on today, are illustrated.
This is not a book that I would ordinarily have chosen, because it often had the feeling of chick lit or romance, sometimes losing the thread to the past and its history for me. That said, it was chosen by my book group, and I discovered many interesting scenes that were informative about the war, the field of battle, the responsibilities of the nurses and the relationship between men and women, at the time. Although power was concentrated in the hands of the men, women like Marie Curie and Julia Stimson were able to make names for themselves and advance the cause of women, sometimes without realizing it.
The author commemorates the nurses’ efforts, the efforts of the entire medical staff and the war heroes of the armed forces participants who sacrificed themselves for the cause of others, for the greater good. Unfortunately, the war to end all wars, did not end all wars and pandemics still occur.… (mais)

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: The incredible story of the First Lady who clandestinely assumed the presidency

Socialite Edith Bolling has been in no hurry to find a new husband since she was widowed, preferring to fill her days with good friends and travel. But the enchanting courting of President Woodrow Wilson wins Edith over and she becomes the First Lady of the United States. The position is uncomfortable for the fiercely independent Edith, but she's determined to rise to the challenges of her new marriage—from the bloodthirsty press to the shadows of the first World War.

Warming to her new role, Edith is soon indispensable to her husband's presidency. She replaces the staff that Woodrow finds distracting, and discusses policy with him daily. Throughout the war, she encrypts top- secret messages and despite lacking formal education becomes an important adviser. When peace talks begin in Europe, she attends at Woodrow's side. But just as the critical fight to ratify the treaty to end the war and create a League of Nations in order to prevent another, Woodrow's always-delicate health takes a dramatic turn for the worse. In her determination to preserve both his progress and his reputation, Edith all but assumes the presidency herself.

Now, Edith must contend with the demands of a tumultuous country, the secrets of Woodrow's true condition, and the potentially devastating consequences of her failure. At once sweeping and intimate, The President's Wife is an astonishing portrait of a courageous First Lady and the sacrifices she made to protect her husband and her country at all costs.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Charming historical fiction about two people of riper years whose love for each other is tested, re-tested, and ultimately short-lived due to death.

So many things about Woodrow Wilson are awful to me. A racist, an ivory-tower academic without the track record to be the strong-arming law-ramming president thr first World War demanded; but most of all the man who gave away the keys to the economy to the banksters of Jekyll Island's cabal in 1913, thus dooming us to cycles of boom and bust that would only get worse every time the banksters clawed more money from our pockets to feed their greed and gambling addiction.

*ahem*

That not being what this book's about, let me tell you about it, not him.

First of all, it's a novel about two older people whose lives are mostly behind them finding comfort and companionship at the end. That one of them is the president of the US is, in a strange way, tangential to their story. They had a true connection to each other as people, as a man and a woman left alone by the deaths of their spouses. Author Wood gives us the sense that, had they met without this central fact being present, they likely would've had an affair because they were so simpatico. The way their relationship played out, so very publicly, and at such high volume, meant that the end of the affair was inevitably going to be marriage...nothing less would assuage the "moral standards" of the day. Edith Bolling was, thank goodness, a practical person, aware of the world around her and its demands; also to be praised is her full belief in Wilson's political and social progressivism (as far as it went, anyway), so her voice was added to his, not in conflict with it in the battles he was waging.

The Great War, as World War One was called at the time, was only one item on Wilson's plate and isn't the major focus of the book. More weight is given to the all-important enfranchisement of women. This is the one unqualified success of Wilson's presidency. Edith Bolling Wilson was influential on the president's support for this amendment to the Constitution.

Again, more important than the history lesson of the book is the close relationship between these two people. The background of their lives together was always public, and the work they did together was consequential to this very day. But they themselves, as people, are Author Wood's focus. She does not present them as superhuman archetypes. Thy are believable characters, strong people with powerful convictions, who found each other in the last act of the play that is a human's life. Their needs and their interests matched so well that it feels, to this elderly reader, as though they each found the satisfaction of an entire lifetime's search for their best partner.

It's a fine story, about interesting people, and it's told well. Enjoy it soon.… (mais)