When the World Stood Still by Kate Eastham
Genre: Historical fiction, WW1
Read: 19th February 2021
Published: 22nd February 2021
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
The nurses were putting in twelve-hour shifts now, day and night. Emily felt broken inside, dried out, not even capable of tears. They were short-staffed after a softly spoken Irish nurse, who’d only been with them for four days, had died from the deadly flu and two more had fallen ill. And more patients were coming in every hour, though the hospital beds were already full…
1918. Twenty-year-old Emily Burdon has been training as a nurse in London, learning on the job as she tends to patients from the crowded poorhouses that ring the hospital as well as wounded soldiers returning from the war. She pours her heart into her nursing while she waits for happier times – peace in Europe and the return of her childhood sweetheart Lewis from the Western Front.
But when the deadly Spanish Flu arrives in London on the heels of the war, Emily’s faith and courage are put to the test. All around her men and women in the prime of their lives are wasting away, and until a cure is found there is nothing for Emily and her colleagues to do except make them comfortable, treat them as best they can… and, eventually, ease the pain of their passing.
But then Lewis catches the deadly flu himself on his way back home, just as a new doctor is transferred to head up Emily’s ward. From the distant land of Prince Edward Island in Canada, Dr James Cantor is the first of a generations-old farming family to have left the island, and wartime London feels a long way away from the rugged beauty of his homeland. But despite their differences, he and Emily find common ground in their passion for helping patients and stopping the spread of the disease. But with life forever changed around her and Lewis’ future hanging by a thread, can Emily survive the most terrible epidemic in the history with her life – and heart – intact?
A heartbreaking historical novel based on true history – emotional and unforgettable. Perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, The Beantown Girls and Diney Costeloe.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Kate Eastham's heartbreaking tale set during the Spanish flu WHEN THE WORLD STOOD STILL.
How ironic that an historical fiction should take readers back a hundred years to another pandemic that crippled the world over at the end of the Great War. But it wasn't a coincidence that this story was told. In the midst of our own current pandemic, author Kate Eastham (a retired nurse herself) was approached by her editor to write an historical tale set during the Spanish flu. It would be something readers could well identify with some similarities drawn between the two pandemics, a hundred years apart.
The Spanish flu is something I had heard of and was well aware of, but not of just how crippling and deadly the disease was. You could fall ill with a headache and fever in the morning and be dead by tea time. Without the advances of medicine today or a vaccine, the Spanish flu pandemic was far deadlier than COVID and all medical staff could do was nurse them the best they could. Some lived, some didn't. It is estimated that about 500 million people, or one-third of the world's population, became infected with the Spanish flu and the number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide. It was a time WHEN THE WORLD STOOD STILL.
“I’ve never seen anything like this pandemic...Whatever it is, it’s filling patients’ lungs with so much fluid that they’re drowning. We need more time to study but it’s ripping through every city in the world….”
September 1918: As the Great War nears its end, probationary nurse Emily Burdon has just about completed her training at London's St Marylebone Infirmary alongside her best friend Lucy. While her friend was on the Female Surgical ward, Emily was on the Military ward treating injured soldiers who have returned with war wounds before being fit for discharge.
From Lancashire, Emily left her family behind and moved to London to train as a nurse. Her fiance and childhood sweetheart Lewis Dupree went off to war in 1914 and has survived it thus far. He writes regularly and visits her when he has leave although he never returns to their village, which has become a bone of contention between them, as Emily misses her family dreadfully and yearns to visit them. Despite this, Emily loves her work and cannot wait to become a fully qualified nurse.
When the hospital is overwhelmed by an incredible number of deadly flu cases, so sudden and so powerful that it can kill in a matter or days or even hours, the nurses face their biggest and deadliest challenge treating the sick as the flu sweeps not only the country but the world. Emily must draw on all her training to help her patients as best she can wearing only a cloth mask for protection herself. But the flu spreads rapidly, discriminating against no one, leaving the hospital short staffed and ill equipped. However, the hospital has always heeded Florence Nightingale's philosophy regarding the importance of strict hygiene and ventilation, as staff wash their hands after every patient and keep the windows open allowing fresh air to sweep through the wards. And now it is more important than ever to heed the late nurse's wisdom. But when Emily's best friend Lucy is taken ill suddenly, she puts all her training to use to nurse her in the hope that she can save her.
Then Emily receives word that Lewis has contracted the flu, having already watched many soldiers on the front die from it. He writes from a Dunkirk hospital asking for a bed at St Marylebone where she can nurse him. But Lewis is a changed man. Having survived the entire war and watching his best friend die on the battlefront, will the flu be the death of him? Just days beyond the war's end? And if he survives, will he be the same man Emily fell in love with that went to war four years ago?
Emily enlists the help of newly arrived Dr James Cantor, from Prince Edward Island in Canada, to arrange Lewis' transport from Dunkirk to St Marylebone. The two have worked well together since his arrival but the news that Lewis is Emily's fiance comes as something of a shock to James, who is clearly attracted to Emily. She has sworn him to secrecy as nurses are encouraged to give their whole lives to the profession with no room for marriage or motherhood to distract them. So when Lewis arrives on the ward, no one but James knows her secret.
But it seems Lewis has a secret of his own. And when Emily uncovers the truth, her whole world will be shaken to its core. It is then that she draws on her strength and the friendship of those around her as she must decide whether her feelings for the man she once loved have changed. But it also means that Emily must now return home to Lancashire.
Can Emily survive the changes the pandemic has brought to her life with her heart intact? And when a child at the hospital loses her mother, Emily must make a choice - family or career?
It is interesting reading the challenges people faced in WHEN THE WORLD STOOD STILL as they endured a fast moving and deadly pandemic, much like today. There are certain parallels, to be sure, but without the advancement of medicine at the time, no cure and no vaccine, death rates were high. And how ironic to come out of the Great War alive only to be claimed by a deadly flu, in some cases. With only aspirin, poultices, tepid baths and steam treatments to treat patients, the courage and strength of these nurses at the time is to be commended. Many also lost their lives but they also saved those they were treating.
I was quickly drawn into the compelling story which I just about read in one sitting. Emily's story is a touching one as it takes us through the pandemic and then from London to Lancashire. It is also interesting to note that people then were made of more stoic stuff than today...as we truly are incredibly lucky to have the luxuries of modern medicine and more that we often take for granted and that were not available to the generations before us. It bears thinking about, how would we live through and survive not only such a life-changing war but an even deadlier pandemic? COVID can be deadly, yes, but there was nothing to treat the Spanish flu - nothing but good nursing.
WHEN THE WORLD STOOD STILL is an emotive story of another era, another time, but one not unlike today...despite the some 100 years between us. It is well written, well researched and well developed. I thoroughly enjoyed it and fans of historical fiction will devour it just as I did. My only complaint was that it didn't explore the ending a little further before it concluded. Even so, it was a heartbreaking and heartwarming read with a satisfying end. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I would like to thank #KateEastham, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #WhenTheWorldStoodStill in exchange for an honest review.
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