Saturday, June 16, 2012

Wedded to War-Jocelyn Green

Wedded to War


Jocelyn Green

River North, Jul 1 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9780802405760



In 1861, The War Between the States surfaces several Union Army inadequacies. One of the most glaring is the understaffed Medical Department that has few combat experienced doctors and is totally not ready for war.



In New York City, several women want to enlist as nurses and other medical staff helpers. One of them is twenty-eight year old Charlotte Waverly from an affluent family. Everyone she knows thinks she is inane to believe she can become a combat nurse as upper class females are too pampered. Her boyfriend strongly objects making it clear it is either him or injured soldiers. However, determined and obstinate as she feels this is God’s calling for her, she volunteers especially after a relative joins the Union Army. As one of the first female nurses, Charlotte finds the male doctors reject women in hospitals and especially in the field even though they are understaffed and not providing enough attention to their patients.



Wedded to the War is a great Civil War thriller that focuses on the role of females nurses breaking through a glass barrier that seems inane today with rules like the doctor is always right even at the cost of the patient’s life or limbs; as we have come a long way (but have a long way to go). Character driven, readers will believe they are working alongside of Charlotte as she helps the injured, assist other women and meets Caleb who supports her efforts as a nurse. Paying homage to Civil War nurse Georgeanna Woolsey, Jocelyn Green provides an insightful look back to a time just before Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association.



Harriet Klausner



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