The Sea Nurses by Kate Eastham
Genre: Historical fiction, Wartime fiction, Sagas, WW1
Read: 4th June 2022
Published: 6th June 2022
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
The young nurse ran across the wooden deck, her feet skidding. She spotted an injured young man clinging to the ship’s rail, his eyes wide with terror. She could see the water rushing up to meet them. ‘We need to jump!’ she screamed. In that moment, a wave washed over them. She lunged forward to grab his hand, but she was a second too slow. Somewhere, deep inside the vessel, came a loud crack. The hospital ship was breaking apart…
1914. Evie Munro is a Scottish fisher girl, working the herring season from Wick to Great Yarmouth. For Evie, every day is the same – gutting fish at the docks, shoulder-to-shoulder with her friends, followed by fresh bread, a warm whiskey toddy and an early night. But when Germany declares war on Britain, everything changes.
As her village begins to empty of young men, Evie’s life is marked by a heartbreaking tragedy at home. Her happiness destroyed, she vows to join the war effort as an army nurse, caring for wounded soldiers on the imposing hospital ship Britannic.
But as the war rages on and the ship comes under direct fire, Evie’s courage is put to the ultimate test. Can Evie and the nurses of the HMHS Britannic save the day and heal the patients in their care? Or will her life become one more casualty in Britain’s heroic fight for freedom?
A heartbreaking wartime saga – guaranteed to have you grabbing for the tissues! Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries, Diney Costeloe and Nancy Revell.
MY THOUGHTS:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Kate Eastham's wartime saga tale THE SEA NURSES.
This is the third book by Kate Eastham I've read and it was relatively enjoyable with the unique aspect of beginning on a cruise ship liner to becoming military hospital during the war. In the early 1910's, there were three sister ships built for the White Star Line for passage from London to New York primarily. They were Olympic, Britannic and the ill-fated Titanic. But even after Titanic's demise, the Olympic and Britannic continued to make the TransAtlantic voyage. THE SEA NURSES begins on one and continues on another.
It's 1914 and Iris Purefoy is a stewardess and nurse for the White Star Line on board the RMS Olympic to New York. There have been whispers of war amongst the passengers though many believe if it were to come it would be over in weeks anyway. Others are dismissing the idea of war as ludicrous. Beginning in second class, Iris soon made her way up to First Class and found herself as the occasional personal maid for Miss Amelia Duchamp, on passage from Paris to New York. The elderly woman has a feisty little Pekingnese called Marco whom she dotes on and who has nipped Iris more than once. Miss Duchamp is incredibly demanding with high expectations but Iris sees to her needs as her charge requires.
One night on deck, Iris sees a flash in the shadows and meets Jack Rosetti, a young American who lost his ticket in a car game but managed to stowaway on the liner. Iris took pity on him when he disclosed that his mother was dying and he wanted to reach her before it was too late. Against her better judgement, Iris chose to ignore his illegal passage and tried to ignore the young man each time she saw him. But there was something captivating about him. His smile, his eyes, his laughter. He asked to see her on shore before the ship made its way back to Britain, but news of the war changed any plans made and the RMS Olympic hastily made its return to become a troop ship.
Arriving back in England, Iris had decided to put her nurses training to good use and join a military hospital, following matron to Netley in Southampton.
Meanwhile, in Great Yarmouth Evie Munro was a fisher girl who travelled from her native Scotland each year to the Norfolk coast to work the herring season. This year she meets Jamie who captures her heart. But life as a fisherman is a hard one out on the roughs of the North Sea, and it is often fraught with tragedy. Life as a fisher girl is also a tough one, and Evie jumps into action to assist when one of them is injured, using her skills to suture and bandage and even nurse her charges back from the onset of sepsis. She is not a nurse but she has the skills of one. When the season is over, Evie travels home to Scotland with her friends with a heaviness she'd never felt before. And with the war approaching, she makes a decision. Leaving her past behind her, she travels to Southampton as a probationary nurse where she falls under the charge of Nurse Purefoy.
After almost a year at Netley, Iris and Evie along with some of the VADs, begin work on the former cruise liner Britannic, now a military hopsital ship that had been requisitioned for the war, collecting soldiers from the Front and bringing them back to England. Their job is to nurse the injured men and help keep them alive until they are then transferred to a hospital on shore. Life is far different for both women - from the luxurious state rooms Iris had worked as a stewardess or the fishing wounds Evie had once tended. Despite their's being a military hospital ship displaying a prominent red cross and signage to give them clear passage and prevent them from being fired upon but this is war and no one is safe. There was nothing stopping them hitting an underwater mine or a U-boat firing upon them, mistaking them for the enemy.
Life changes for both Iris and Evie in profound ways throughout the course of the war. Particularly when a new orderly is taken on Britannic and Iris is shocked to be looking into the smiling eyes of Jack Rosetti once again. Ever the professional, Iris keeps her distance particularly as fraternisation between male and female staff is not permitted and Sister frowns upon such a blatant disregard for the rules.
And then life changes in an instant off the Mediterranean coast and each must make a snap decision to save themselves before it's too late.
A heartrendering and emotional tale, THE SEA NURSES takes on a unique aspect of a wartime saga in that it is on board former cruise liner ships now decked out as floating military hospitals. I like how it began with Iris as a stewardess so we get a glimpse of life aboard those ships before the war and therefore becoming military hospitals or troop ships. There was a hint of glamour befor being thrust into the horrors of war and the promise of something to come when it was all over.
With Evie it was a little different. I felt that she was more of a secondary character to Iris' main one. I also felt that the friendship between the two women wasn't at the forefront of the story as much as the premise alluded to. I felt the women didn't really connect as friends throughout the story...not until almost the end after Evie's shocking find beneath the pier. I found Evie connected more with her fisher friends - Rita and Minnie - and even her brother and sister in law, more than Iris. To me, Iris felt more of her superior than a friend and any connection between the two women was lost. Their meetings up on deck in the evenings wasn't enough to make a close friendship as the narrative spoke or Iris in one context or Evie in another. The women were hardly ever together, forming a bond of friendship, not on page at least.
I liked both women but I didn't feel there was enough there to make them such close friends. They were too separate and never seemed to really connect. I found Iris closer to Miss Duchamp and she hadn't seen her since that final voyage at the beginning of the war, though the women remained in constant contact via letter.
I enjoyed THE SEA NURSES but not near so much as "When the World Stood Still" which I absolutely loved. I would have liked the ending to have gone a little further than another sea voyage, with a final glimpse of New York.
An entertaining read, THE SEA NURSES is an interesting and engaging historical wartime saga complete with drama and suspense of life, love, friendships and loss. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Diney Costeloe.
I would like to thank #KateEastham, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheSeaNurses in exchange for an honest review.
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