Nightingale (Laura Elvery, UQP)

Grounded in history and buoyed by Laura Elvery’s elegant, moving prose, Nightingale is a fictional reimagining of the near-mythic figure of Florence Nightingale, told in three parts. The first and third parts occur in 1910 when a 90-year-old Florence is visited by the spectre of Silas, a young soldier from her past. Here, Florence drifts, her last hour getting closer. She remembers her illustrious career in snatches of sensations, faces of soldiers, the patients she could not save, dreams bleeding into reality and reality distorted by fading memory. The supernatural implications of Silas’s presence incite a compulsion to learn his story – a mystery even to him – and discover what became of his lover, Jean. Part two takes place in 1854 as Jean, a nurse under Nightingale’s command, navigates the horrors of a Crimean war hospital. Jean’s narrative is a heart-rending story of love and loss, and a riveting account of the inception of nursing. Elvery’s writing is exquisite in its detail and delicate characterisation, both beautiful and mournful in equal measure. Nightingale will appeal to readers of literary and historical fiction, historical romance, and fans of fiction based on historical figures, such as Sarah Schmidt’s See What I Have Done. Those who enjoyed Elvery’s award-winning short story collections Ordinary Matter and Trick of the Light will love her third book and first novel.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Kate Dunphy is an emerging writer and bookseller based in Meanjin. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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