Book description
It is 1914 and life has changed dramatically for the people of Belgium.
The advancing German military, delayed by a valiant Belgian Army, take
out their frustrations on innocent civilians. Shockwaves reverberate
around Europe. In the chaotic early days of occupation, events conspire
to draw together three very different people. Their destinies become
entwined with nurse Edith Cavell and lead inexorably to a dramatic
conclusion. The authors have drawn from first-hand accounts to create a
powerful story which brings these tumultuous times alive. In Brussels,
at the outset of the First World War, the lives of a British nurse, an
American student, and a young nun are drawn together under the duress of
German occupation. The authors trace the fortunes of civilians who find
themselves enduring an increasingly vengeful invasion of Belgium as an
impatient German Army hastens to break through to Paris. Fugitive
soldiers, left behind enemy lines by their own retreating armies, try to
slip home, assisted by brave local citizens who, in so doing, risk their
own lives. Whether military or non-combatant, people find themselves in
new relationships and, with tension and danger mounting, they have their
beliefs challenged and loyalties tested. This stirring account is
loosely based on biographies of people caught up in the drama of this
time, including Edith Cavell who became the most celebrated woman of the
war.
