Title: The Nurses’ War
Author: Victoria Purman
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Genre: Modern, Crime, Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Release Date: 30th March 2022
Rating 
Synopsis
In 1915, as World War 1 rages in Europe and the number of dead and injured continues to grow, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Australia for England, determined to use her skills for King and country. When she arrives at Harefield House – donated to the Australian Army by its expatriate Australian owners – she helps transform it into a hospital that is also a little piece of home for recuperating Australian soldiers.
As the months pass, her mission to save digger’s lives becomes more urgent as the darkest months of the war see injured soldiers from the battlefields of France and Belgium flood into Harefield in the thousands. When the hospital sends out a desperate call for help, a quiet young seamstress from the village, Jessie Chester, steps up as a volunteer. At the hospital, she meets Private Bert Mott, a recovering Australian soldier, but the looming threat of his return to the Front hangs over them. Could her first love be her first heartbreak?
Cora’s and Jessie’s futures, their hearts and their lives hang in the balance as the never-ending wave of injured and dying soldiers threatens to overwhelm the hospital and the hopes of a nation rest on a knife edge. The nurse’s war is a war against despair and death, fought with science and love rather than mustard gas and fear – but can they possibly win it? And what will be the cost?
Review
12 May 1915, aboard the RMS Osterley; Nurse Cora Barker is making the 12,777 nautical mile journey from Adelaide, South Australia, to Harefield Park in London, England to put her skills to good use for King and Country, her determination only grows stronger the closer the ship’s arrival to Europe.
Upon arrival to Harefield Park which was generously donated to the Australian Army thanks to the parks expatriate Australian owners, Cora and the other members of staff set to work turning the grand home into a hospital, a place where fellow Australian soldiers can recuperate and hopefully feeling as if Harefield Park a beautiful country Estate is a little like home. The staff must set to work immediately if they are to be of any assistance to these men, the death and injury toll continues to grow at a rapid rate; will the nurses be able to win the war before the upcoming holiday season or will winning the battle take longer than first thought and will the staff at Harefield Park ever be able to return home?
Having read the Author’s previous novel, The Woman’s Pages I was eager to devour her next offing, the opening of the synopsis for The Nurse’s War sealed the deal. In 1915, as World War 1 rages in Europe and the number of dead and injured continues to grow, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Australia for England, determined to use her skills for King and country.
The Nurses’ War might appear to be just another novel to add to the Historical Fiction, Wartime genre which has taken off over the last couple of years but it’s truly a masterpiece, there is tragedy, there is first love, there is disability representation, and female friendship.
The moment we meet our protagonist Cora Barker and minor characters Jessie Chester and Bert Mott
I knew as a reader these characters and this story would stay with me forever, it’s clear thanks to her skilled writing that Victoria Purman cares deeply for these characters she has expertly crafted.
Jessie Chester who when we first met, had me believing was going to be just another memorable minor character, the first time we met her, she became a dynamic Character for this book. If this book had a dual perspective element Jessie Chester’s story would’ve made for an excellent perspective, this detail is simply this reviewer being greedy for more time with these characters and it in no way effects the story at all.
Jessie is a young seamstress who lives locally and decides to volunteer at the hospital after spending time amongst the injured men, Jessie knows she cannot simply sit by and not do her part in the war effort. She soon forms a strong connection to Private Bert Mott. I found myself so invested in Jessie and Bert’s relationship the most I almost forgot the others, I found myself cheering them on I also found the backstory given to these characters was believable. If I was born in their time, I’d like to think we’d be friends.
The Nurse’s War is a large novel so there is a lot here to uncover; there was defiantly times where the book slows, this is not a negative nor a request for improvement by any means, Purman has taken the time to convey the time, effort and the hardship these people went through during this harrowing time and threaded through moments of light and friendship.
Before reading this book I’d never even heard of Harefield Park so that location was of great interest, it feels a little odd to say the wartime period is interesting in this reviewer’s opinion. But rather the story the author has woven around the wartime period feels fresh and any reader will struggle to put this book down.
Concluding any book, you’ve really enjoyed is hard for any reader and I believe some conclusions are harder than others, whilst I was left happy overall it was hard not to experience a touch of sadness for some of the characters we leave behind which I find myself still curious about some weeks later.
I highly recommend this book to a mature audience, readers of Historical Fiction with a particular interest in the wartime period with a character driven plot, should not hesitate to add this moving tale to their bookshelves I cannot wait to read her next book A Woman’s Work
With continued thanks to HarperCollins Australia and Harlequin Books for sending a physical copy of this book to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.