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Band of Angels: A Novel
The first novel by the author of East of the Sun is a sweeping historical love story set against Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War.
Published in England as The Water Horse...more
Published in England as The Water Horse...more
Paperback, 464 pages
Published
May 18th 2010
by Touchstone
(first published January 1st 2004)
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Catherine Carreg, unhappy with her life in Wales, dreams of running away to London and convinces long time friend Deio Jones to help her do it - dressed as a man and on a cattle drive to boot. Once in London without many options for her, she takes employment at Florence Nightingale's home for sick governesses and she signs up to follow Miss Nightingale to aid the wounded in the Crimean war. Catherine and her fellow nurses are in for quite a shock at the brutal conditions in the Scutari hospital,...more
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This promised much but ultimately I was disappointed. It wasn’t the quality of the writing – that was excellent throughout. As in her other novels, Julia Gregson proves up to the task of describing any setting with skill and confidence, and with the depth of detail that makes it believable. She also does a great job of bringing Florence Nightingale to life – quite different from the image I always had of her. We are reminded again and again of the squalid conditions in which wars are fought. I t...more
I was very disappointed in this book. I thought it would be a historically significant book about the birth of nursing. It was a cheap, very unrealistic romance novel. It was set at the time of Florence Nightengale, the mother of nursing. I really wonder if any part of the book was historically accurate. The author became so lazy in the writing, that I wonder if she ever did any research into the history of the facts. She reaches a point in the book that rather than spelling out her secondary ch...more
Nurses are such heroes,and Julia Gregson's Band of Angels relays the story of some of England's first nurses as they join men for the first time along the battlefronts in the Crimean War. Catherine Carreg is too young and medically uneducated to keep her mother from dying in childbirth, and this propels her to seek out Florence Nightingale and a career in nursing. Gregson's novel deftly depicts the gory, raw details about war and the cold, brutal choices many women are forced to make or live wit...more
Another book that was not at all what I expected it to be... A young women runs away from heartbreak and home to become a nurse with Florance Nightingale, but nothing turns out as to be expected, no school girl romance in these pages. Death, politics, female nurses with no training, no supplies at foreign hospitals where they aren't wanted, fed or are able to help much or make a real difference in the piles of soldiers dying in mass around them. Rape and heartbreak, but perhaps a small shimmer o...more
This isn't a book you read while you eat, that's for sure-I skipped over most of the scenes at the hospital once the nurses were allowed to work with the patients, the author sure does a good job of making sure you know what gruesome horrors there were. It's amazing that anyone at all survived being wounded in that war, given the lack of disinfectants. I thought that if the book had been more about a young woman seeking independence in the mid-19th century, it would have been better, but it turn...more
A fine historical fiction set in the 1850s, primarily in the region of the Crimean War. The book shows a sickenly brutal war in which it is amazing that anyone survived typhus, cholera, septic wounds, hunger and freezing. The book shows a casual disregard and abuse of common soldiers and horses, not to mention the women, who have no position and can be used and abused at the whim of men and society. This all makes the book sound darker than it is, but it does show a particularly serious attitude...more
Πάρα πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο. Γραμμένο στο πνεύμα της εποχής στην οποία διαδραματίζεται.
Η Κάθριν, που ουσιαστικά δεν έχει ακόμα γνωρίσει τον εαυτό της και τι μπορεί να αισθανθεί, μετά από ένα συγκλονιστικό γεγονός, αποφασίζει να γίνει γιατρός και να σώζει ζωές. Στην Αγγλία όμως εκείνης της αποχής αυτό απαγορεύεται κι έτσι αποφασίζει να γίνει νοσοκόμα και καταλήγει στην Κριμαία. Τότε πια τα συναισθήματα της είναι ξεκάθαρα και εύχεται να το είχε συνειδητοποιήσει νωρίτερα και να μην είχε αφήσει όλο αυτό...more
Η Κάθριν, που ουσιαστικά δεν έχει ακόμα γνωρίσει τον εαυτό της και τι μπορεί να αισθανθεί, μετά από ένα συγκλονιστικό γεγονός, αποφασίζει να γίνει γιατρός και να σώζει ζωές. Στην Αγγλία όμως εκείνης της αποχής αυτό απαγορεύεται κι έτσι αποφασίζει να γίνει νοσοκόμα και καταλήγει στην Κριμαία. Τότε πια τα συναισθήματα της είναι ξεκάθαρα και εύχεται να το είχε συνειδητοποιήσει νωρίτερα και να μην είχε αφήσει όλο αυτό...more
The story was ok (teen romance I suppose) but the insight into the Crimean War was quite horrific. I realise these were hard times even in mid 19th century Britain compared to now, but life for both the soldiers and the nurses who looked after them at Scutari was unbelievably bad. I dont know if there is a follow-up book but the tale of the young couple reunited at Balaclava seems to peter out at the end. The role of Florence Nightingale is also by-passed apart from allowing young Catherine to b...more
The Water Horse was a fantastic read and definitely deserves all the praise it can get.
I'm a huge fan of anything to do with medical history, so this book was a real treat for me.
Florence Nightingale for me, was a name I recognised yet did not know a huge amount about, but after reading The Water Horse I know a little more and I'm very interested to find out more about the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale, as well as doctors and nurses in that era.
Considering that Julia Gregson based the sto...more
I'm a huge fan of anything to do with medical history, so this book was a real treat for me.
Florence Nightingale for me, was a name I recognised yet did not know a huge amount about, but after reading The Water Horse I know a little more and I'm very interested to find out more about the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale, as well as doctors and nurses in that era.
Considering that Julia Gregson based the sto...more
Catherine Carreg grew up in Wales, racing horses down the beach with her neighbor, Deio Jones. Though her father, a gentleman farmer, considered their family far above the Jones family in social status, her mother's frail health created the opportunity for Catherine to spend quite a lot of time with them. The Jones family was a haven for Catherine and she developed a deep love for Deio.
As they grew older, the talk began. A young woman should not be spending time alone with a young man, especiall...more
As they grew older, the talk began. A young woman should not be spending time alone with a young man, especiall...more
I enjoyed receiving and reading this firstreads giveaway. I learned about the conditions in the hospitals where nurses, for the first time, worked to give the basics of care to wounded and dying soldiers during the Crimean War. During this era, nursing was not a profession that was high status or well respected. The main character, Catherine, had noble ambitions but she was young and unaware of the stuggles that she would face as a nurse in a war. The story was well-developed and interesting. I...more
What to say on this one? I really liked Gregson's East of the Sun but just couldn't find the same level of appreciation for this one. Although I tore through it rather quickly it seemed like it just lacked depth and character development. Despite depicting the hardships of the Crimean War, it eventually did not seem more than a run of the mill romance novel. For that I would normally rate a 2 but I still found myself coming frequently back to the book to finish it.
Catherine was a gutsy woman for her time Gregson did a great job creating the character of Catherine and allowing her opportunties to grow as a character. Her relationship with Deio was a little hard to understand somtimes, but that's pretty common with young love, and they didn't use the best communication with one another. The battle scenes and descriptions of the hospitals were disturbing, but appropriate. Overall, a great tale of endurance and courage.
This book surprised me. I like a book that teaches me about something. This book taught me about the Crimean war, something I knew next to nothing about. Obviously it is fiction, but it gives an insight into what went on during a turbulent moment in history. It also contains a love story, but not your typical one for a woman of those times. I enjoyed it.
I was turned off by the beginning, which had all the hallmarks of a cheesy romance novel, but the story of the nurses - and what they endured - during the Crimean War was amazing. I enjoyed this book so much, I recommended it to my book club and was so sad when only one other girl enjoyed it! Oh well - I still love it.
Jan 02, 2011
Dev
is currently reading it
So far, I'm intrigued and enjoying the journey. Although I must say I was bored with the first few chapters when she is miserable at home, and now that she is in London, I'm starting to be bored of it, too. Hopefully this character will get a move on soon!
Geez, talk about nothing ever going right. Poor Catherine, not a damn thing turned out the way she hoped.
I did enjoy her love story with Deio and all that she went through to finally stop running away, and I thought the way they came together in the end was perfect. They were full of grief and weariness and end was very fitting.
Some of the hospital parts were just too sickening, and I did do some skimming, because of the grose factor. Seriously, I got nauseous.
Good story.
I did enjoy her love story with Deio and all that she went through to finally stop running away, and I thought the way they came together in the end was perfect. They were full of grief and weariness and end was very fitting.
Some of the hospital parts were just too sickening, and I did do some skimming, because of the grose factor. Seriously, I got nauseous.
Good story.
This is a very predictable romance about a young woman who runs away to join Florence Nightingale's nurses during the Crimean War. If nothing else, it caused me to look up information on the Crimean War.
I'd like to say I loved this book, but I don't think you'd really say that about a book with this much sorrow and rawness. It WAS an education; it WAS really interesting. I enjoyed the characters. If you like historic fiction, read it. You'll be glad you did.
I really enjoyed this account of the Crimean war and the nurses that Florence Nightingale took with her. The descriptions were as vivid as if the author had been there.
I thought that this was a book that promised much but for me just didn't deliver. I found the central characters dull and one- dimensional, Florence Nightingale is barely in the book and nothing really happens. Just not for me, not enough action.
Brought out after the success of her latest book. Pretty good. Hope she writes more!
Not really sure how to categorize this. It's historical fiction with a bit of romance set in London and the Crimea. I feel as though I should have enjoyed it more than I did, since it dealt with medical history and has an unusual setting--Constantinople and the Black Sea. Gregson does a great job with conveying the disgusting conditions of army 'hospitals' in the mid-1800s; you can almost smell the stench and feel the cold. But I don't feel as though I ever really connected with the main charact...more
This is the story of Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War.
This book is known as THE WATER HORSE if you are in England!
The end was disapointing because the begining was so good. And a little guresome.
Excellent - a rather grimly graphic but fascinating tale set during the Crimean War. One thing happily surprised me - although there is a "love" story, it is secondary to the main characters search for self. Made for a deeper, less formulaic story.
As a side note - the "character" of Florence Nightengale is NOT what I expected. She's really quite unsympathetically written - as if, although she gets some kudos as her due, she is really a rather unlikeable human being. Not sure where the truth lie...more
As a side note - the "character" of Florence Nightengale is NOT what I expected. She's really quite unsympathetically written - as if, although she gets some kudos as her due, she is really a rather unlikeable human being. Not sure where the truth lie...more
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I have always wanted to be a writer, but left school very young (16) after a fairly hit and miss education, longing to travel and have adventures. I worked as a jillaroo in the Australian outback, a girl groom, a shearer’s cook, and later, back in England, as a house model for Hardy Amies in London.
In the seventies, back in Australia again, love of horses led to riding out with Mick Jagger on the...more
More about Julia Gregson...
In the seventies, back in Australia again, love of horses led to riding out with Mick Jagger on the...more
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Jun 10, 2010 07:29pm
Jun 21, 2010 09:21am