Under The Cover of Mercy | June Book Club
A beautiful book has come my way that I can’t wait to share with you this June!
“Under The Cover of Mercy”, by Rebecca Connolly.
It’s another from one of my favorite genres, historical fiction, and you’ll love this fast-paced novel about a nurse “on a mission of mercy and rebellion.” It’s set during the tumultuousness of WWI, and it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat - or lounge chair, or beach towel - where ever you devour your summer reading list.
You won’t want to wait to dig into the based on the true story novel of a nurse that risked charges of treason to help wounded Allied soldiers escape their German captors.
”November 1914
The Great War has come to Brussels, and Edith Cavell, Head Nurse at Berkendael Medical Institute, faces an impossible situation. She has sworn an oath to help any who are wounded, under whatever flag they are found. But Governor von Lüttwitz, the ranking German officer, has ordered her and her nurses to also stand guard over the wounded Allied prisoners of war and prevent them from escaping.
Edith feels that God called her to be a healer, not a jailer. How can she heal these broken boys, only to see them returned to the hands of their oppressors to be beaten again?
So when members of the Belgian resistance, desperate for help, bring two wounded British soldiers to her hospital in secret, she decides she will heal the soldiers, and then help smuggle them out of the hospital to freedom.
With her loyal friend and fellow nurse, Lizzie, by her side, Edith establishes her hospital as a safe house for the resistance, laboring tirelessly to save as many soldiers as she can. Working under the watchful eyes of the German army, Edith faces challenging odds as she fights to bring hope to her small corner of a war-torn world.
Based on a true story, Under the Cover of Mercy is the remarkable account of one woman who defied an entire nation in order to heal those who needed her help the most.”
Rebecca Connolly
photo credit: Sarah Schroering