On 3 September 1939, the Prime Minister declared that Britain was at war with Nazi Germany.Thousands of young women, many of them barely out of school, were sent headlong into gruelling training regimes that would see them become wartime nurses.Sisters features over 150 previously unpublished stories from the archives of the Royal College of Nursing. The vivid, poignant and riveting stories capture these nurses' incredible bravery and touching friendships.

This collection of essays reflects the current interdisciplinary and international nature of the history of nursing scholarship.Covering a range from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, this book draws on research from eleven different countries to address:the issues of professionalism within nursingthe social and ethical issues which are woven into the relationship between the nurse/midwife and her patient/clientthe trans-cultural dimensions ...

A wonderfully moving Christmas midwife story from the author of Call Nurse Millie.Christmas is approaching - but for Nurse Millie and Nurse Annie babies are still being born, and in the East End of London, new mothers still need all the care and support they can give.Vividly summing up all the friendship of a close-knit community - both for the midwives and for the families - CHRISTMAS WITH NURSE MILLIE powerfully brings to life post-war London - w...

Discover the heart-warming and uplifting story of a Glasgow tenement urchin finding her way against adversityBorn during the Second World War in Glasgow, Christine Fraser was her mother's eighth child.Growing up with her siblings in a tiny flat, learning to avoid her hardworking, hard-drinking one-eyed father, making a menace of herself in the streets along with the other urchins, Christine lived an impoverished life but never once cared.Until she w...

When Jane Yeadon decided that she wanted to become a nurse, the Swinging Sixties had arrived in style. But before her training the nearest she got to anything swinging was the udder of the cow on their farm in the north-east of Scotland. It was time to leave for the bright lights and some modern life. It Won't Hurt a Bit is the story of Jane's journey from the farm she loved and the schoolwork she hated through to her nurse training and the many adventures along the way. It's a warm, funny...

A young midwife's account of her training in the Midlands in the 1950s. A SUNDAY TIMES bestseller.It's 1957, and in a shattered post-war world, life goes on. Dot, a pupil midwife, negotiates the streets on her trusty old bicycle - come rain or shine - to help women in need.Living and working under the supervision of the strict Mrs O'Reilly, she must complete her training with twelve deliveries: there's Mrs Wardle who lives in a seedy slum; the eighth Clarke...

London, 1945 and as the end of the war is declared and the troops start returning home, the nurses of the East End are joining in the celebrations.For Nurse Connie Byrne the end of the war signals the beginning of a new chapter and as the revelries go on around the city, Connie's mind is on another celebration that she'll be able to arrange - the wedding to her sweetheart, Charlie, set to take place as soon as he arrives home. But when Connie meets Charlie off the train at London B...

Not even the Blitz can shake a mother's love. Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband Stanley's involvement with the fascist black-shirts, and even when he's conscripted to fight she knows it's only a brief respite - divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan daughter, stays strong for her beloved little son Peter. When a telegram arrives declaring that her husband is missing in...

'Pay attention please, nurses. The next six months will be the most important of your lives'It's the final year of training for three young nurses at The Nightingale Hospital.Helen is at a crossroads in her life as she battles with her domineering mother over both her love life and her future career.Dora can't stop loving Nick, who is married to her best friend, Ruby. But Ruby is hiding a dark secret with t...

*****West Yorkshire, 1926. After completing her training in Steeple Street, Agnes Sheridan is looking forward to making her mark as Bowden's first district nurse, confident she can make a difference in the locals’ lives.But when Agnes arrives, she’s treated with suspicion, labelled just another servant of the wealthy mine owners. The locals would much rather place their trust in the resident healer – Hannah Arkwright.And when the General Str...

All that Dora Riley wants is her husband home safe for Christmas…The Nightingale Hospital, London, 1944: With her husband Nick away fighting, Dora struggles to keep the home fires burning and is put in charge of a ward full of German prisoners of war. Can she find it in her heart to care for her enemies?Fellow nurse Kitty thinks she might be falling for a German soldier, whilst Dora’s old friend Helen returns from Europe with a dark secret.Can the w...

A heartbreaking tale of love and loss in a time of war, perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Annie Groves.Jenny O’Leary is devastated one morning in 1940 when she receives a telegram giving her the dreadful news that one of her brothers has been killed in action. Grief threatens to engulf her, but as an ARP warden, tending to Birmingham’s injured after the nightly raids, she is well-used to the suffering that thousands are enduring every day.Linda Prosser is just twelve year...