Sisters of the Great War
Sisters Ruth and Elise Duncan feel stifled with life under the watchful eye of their controlling, widowed father. Each wants to explore her own personality and life goals in a changing world but feels confined by prevailing social and gender norms. Escaping to the British Field Ambulance/Medical Corps, the two sisters land in Belgium in the spring of 1915: one as a nursing sister and the other an ambulance driver.
This powerful tale is grounded in the maelstrom that was the Western Front during World War I. Through the eyes of Ruth and Elise, who experience firsthand and in shocking detail the human devastation wrought by combat, readers explore their landscape orchestrated by trench warfare.
Feldman is to be congratulated for describing the often-chaotic medical realities that front-line hospitals and aid stations experienced. Unexploded bombs, artillery noise, strafing planes, fire and damage from exploding shells, constant tension, wild rumours, dearth of necessary supplies, constant poor nutrition, lack of fresh water, and possible impending death mark their environment. The conditions under which medical staff labour are carefully described within the larger overarching conflict.
The stress of long-term exposure to such a stressful environment takes severe psychological tolls on all personnel: some deal with this anxiety in more appropriate ways than others, with even love finding root. Notwithstanding this daily drama, human relationships do develop, with each sister seeking solace in her own way. The denouement does indeed bring closure but also opens other possible avenues for sister adventures in the following postwar era.
