In the Fall They Leave
Marie-Thérèse Hulbert is starting her third and final year at nursing school at a small hospital in Brussels, Belgium. Having failed in her previous attempt to become a concert pianist, she is afraid of failing her nursing studies, too, and is desperate to earn the approval of the matron of the hospital. It is August 1914, and the Great War is about to begin. Her city will be occupied by the German army and her hospital used for treating injured German troops.
But she finds that the matron she so much admires has a secret. Hidden away in an unused area, she is also treating wounded Allied troops and helping them to escape to safety. Marie-Thérèse, struggling to cope in a city occupied by the enemy, becomes deeply involved in nursing these troops and helping them on their way.
The subtext beneath this novel is the truth that the matron (never named in the story) is in fact the famously tragic British nurse Edith Cavell, executed by the Germans for nursing these Allied troops. This novel of the young nurse is a carefully wrought portrayal of those times and the heroism of Edith Cavell and others like her.
This concept unfolds beautifully in this well-paced and vivid novel. Characters are skillfully developed, from Marie-Thérèse herself to the elderly gardener with his pigeons. Even the enemy is shown in some cases to display deep understanding and humanity. And yes, there is an element of romance both subtle and realistic to the time and place.
A powerful and moving novel, this is very hard to lay aside. The story and its characters remain in the mind and imagination for a long time.
