Book description
On 3 September 1939 the Prime Minister declared that Britain was at
war with Germany. Thousands of young women, many of them barely out of
school, were sent headlong into grueling training regimes that would
see them become wartime nurses.
Sisters features over 150 previously unpublished interviews
from the archives of the Royal College of Nursing. From the bombed-out
wards of the Blitz to the harsh conditions of army field hospitals,
and from the nurses' pioneering work in the treatment of burns to the
challenges of delivering a baby in a blackout, these courageous
individuals relate with candour, wit and compassion their memories of
the war.
The members of this sisterhood found reserves of inner strength and
made friendships that carried them through episodes of unrelieved
horror. For many, wartime nursing was a life-changing experience and,
in telling their vivid, poignant and riveting stories, Sisters
captures their pride, grief and joy. It is a fitting tribute to their
spirit and bravery.
Dr. Barbara Mortimer is an expert on the history historian of
nursing. Over the years she has held various clinical nursing posts and
has worked as a nurse teacher and a lecturer in nursing. Dr. Mortimer
has planned and taught courses in the History of Nursing at Queen
Margaret University in Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian
Universities. In 2000 she was one of the founders of the UK Centre for
the History of Nursing. Since retiring in 2004, she has worked as a
Research Assistant at the Royal College of Nursing Archives - between
2006 and 2007 on the History of the RCN project (published in 2009). She
lives in Edinburgh.
