Mark BostridgeRezensionen

The life of Adele Hugo, the famous writer’s youngest daughter, is stranger than fiction. She fell in love with a British soldier and followed him across the world. She spent her last days in an asylum. Was her love ever returned, or was she an obsessed and unwanted stalker?

Mark Bostridge obsessively traveled across the world to track down Adele, hoping to discover the truth. He was able to dredge up new documents and photographs and insights.

Adele’s beloved older sister’s death was a shock her father never recovered from. The beautiful Adele was pursued, but she rejected marriage. Victor Hugo was forced to leave his beloved homeland, taking the family (and his mistress!) to the Channel Islands. Hugo was larger than life in his fame as a novelist–and for his sexual appetite.

Adele fell for the handsome British officer Albert Andrew Pinson. They had a love affair. She followed him from post to post, but they never married, although a marriage license has been found. In fact, he married another woman, but remained concerned for Adele’s welfare.

Bostridge story of his search for Adele mirrors Adele’s obsession. Drawing from Adele’s journal, family stories and photographs, and historical records, Bostridge teases out a story that confirms that the mysteries of the human heart are unsolvable.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

Never got past the first chapter; must try again

A biography of an (auto)biography is a strange, if nonsensical, concept. But such is the power of Testament of Youth that there are doubtless others like me who wish to delve deeper into its development.

I measure this work by what it adds to Testament of Youth. Naturally, it is factual and investigative in nature. First, it dispels several exaggerations. Vera Brittain's struggle to continue her studies isn't as desperate as it appears, given the positive feminist role models around her. The "Lost Generation" is an emotive term which applies more to the schools and colleges with military links than to the wider population. Moreover, VADs (voluntary nurses) and non-professional officers were in the Great War predominantly from middle-class backgrounds, again not representative of Britain's efforts as a whole.

Second, it picks up on nuances which many readers may have missed. For example, initially Brittain is ignorant of worldly affairs, admitted as such in the opening lines: "...it came not to me as a superlative tragedy, but as an interruption of an exasperating kind...". But it takes a long while before she becomes a true, ingrained pacifist. Roland Leighton is probably not as anti-war as Brittain makes out. Contrasting Roland's famous words "Modern warfare is merely a trade" are letters from Roland to Vera which represent the front line as surprisingly idyllic.

Third, it adds new insight which may disappoint readers who hold Vera and her brother Edward in the highest light. Who would think it is Vera who persuades Edward to join the military so soon against his wishes? Separately, the Afterword details an investigation which reveals the disturbing truth behind Edward's demise.

I skipped the last chapter on the development of the movie. Partly because I haven't seen the movie, but more because a book about a movie derived from a book is too much for me to handle. All in all, this is a good short read for those who enjoyed Testament of Youth, but little more: under no circumstances should one read this before Testament of Youth.

I read this biography in the hopes of shedding the cliche Florence Nightingale has inadvertently become in my mind. The very name conjures up a saintly figure of epic kindness. A woman with angel wings and endless patience. Someone with a glowing halo and endless caring calm. I wanted Bostridge's biography to turn an otherwise glossy icon into flesh and bone with faults and no-so-saintly feelings. It turns out, the public did a lot to add to the "lady with the lamp" mythology for when the desperate attach an attribute like hope to a person, the image becomes angelic. Such was the desperation of soldiers during the Crimean War. The lamp Nightingale often carried beat back the darkness (and encroaching fear of death) with its soothing soft glow. Elizabeth Gaskell called her a saint. John Davies implied she was a goddess with a magic touch.
Tidbits of interesting not-so-saintly information I enjoyed learning: from an early age Nightingale wanted to care for the sick. She was not shy about voicing her criticism regarding hospital conditions: defective ventilation and horrid sanitation practices. She didn't get along well with others as her persistence for improved conditions irked administrators far and wide. Through and despite all that, like a modern day celebrity craze, there was a insatiable demand for her likeness. Portraits of her cropped up everywhere. People were writing music about her. By 1855 people were naming boats and buildings after her.
Trivial details: Nightingale traveled through Egypt to Cairo with budding author Gustave Flaubert by sheer coincidence. She made Elizabeth Gaskell's acquaintance. She had a sister who lost her identity in the shadow of Florence's greatness. Florence made unusual animals her pets, a cicada and and owl.
There is no doubt Florence Nightingale: the Making of an Icon is the result of meticulous research.

Incredible to realize that these letters were written by teenagers. Try and picture American teenagers of today doing the same. Hahahahahahahahaha

The whole story of Vera and her lost boys is just so heartbreaking, and all the worse because you know it was repeated literally millions of times over, in one of the most stupid and unnecessary of wars.

At the beginning of the year I was aware that 2014 would see; (indeed it had already started in 2013), the publication of battalions of titles rooted in the anniversary of the Great War of 1914-1918. In a troubled-enough world, voluntary immersion in a greater grief lacks compunction, at least it did so for me and I rather fancied I'd let the thing pass by. But then I read a review of Margaret MacMillan's exceptional WWI analysis:- The War That Ended Peace, which now after its reading I rate as the best history book I own. But there was more to the Great War than the three-ringed fatefulness of the Triple Alliance and the Entente Cordiale (MacMillan is wonderfully helpful on these treaty obligations, committed or inferred) and this drew me to Mark Bostridge's:- The Fateful Year England 1914, a social history portraying the concerns of multi-layered chronic class-ridden England in the months leading to the declaration of war on August 4th. It's sub-title "A Year That Started In Peace And Ended In War sets its scope from peace in January yet by the end of December 1914 more than 80,000 British soldiers had perished, something totally unimaginable only a few month earlier. Mark Bostridge unveils how a whole society moved towards these horrors. In contrast with the mass loss of life in the trenches
the book opens with England obsessing over the loss of a single life, the murder of a small boy found dead in a railway carriage. A terrible tragedy, but somehow an unsatisfying introduction but I soon get into the stride of it. The author has collected material from diaries, newspapers and a wide range of official sources. His treatment of the Suffragette Movement, was detailed and gripping I was intrigued by the vivid account of the German navy’s shelling of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool and fascinated by his depiction of Prime Minister Asquith's "relationship" with Venita Stanley. Asquith’s confiding to her in his often more than daily correspondence, seems in today's security-stifled landscape more than a little worrying. On the Irish Question, I was left wanting more, but the main player here is England. There is a good chapter on Edward Thomas whose own travels and writing at this time was likewise concerned with recording a nation in transition as an impending war ushered-in a parallel awful universe. Thomas rightly anticipated and feared these changes though his is a highly personalised, perhaps even self-centered observation. And while Mark Bostridge's exploration ranges over more of the quotidian aspects of the lives of men and women of that time he shares much of Thomas's concerns. The Fateful Year England 1914 is a very good read, demonstrating that within the contexulisation of the ordinary that the fogs of complexity are dispersed. Bostrtidge clears these clouds of time and social memory helping this reader to a much better understanding of the social conditions when exactly 100 years ago England was going to war. Tomorrow I will be listening to his lecture on his book in Keswick, looking forward to that.

This biography of Nightingale focuses on the health care reform work that occupied the last 50 years of her long life. Administrative reform isn't the most romantic subject, but the case is easily made that Nightingale saved many more lives through her tireless promotion of the proper nursing education, of rational hospital design, and most of all of the importance of hygiene (and preventative medicine in general) than she did in the nursing work she performed during the Crimean war which was to bring her so much fame. This warts-and-all portrayal show her to be a far more fascinating figure than the saintly caregiver fetishised by 19th century sentimentalists—fiercely intelligent; a tireless lobbyist; a pragmatist and empiricist when it came to nursing education and hospital design, with little time for theory; an enthusiastic promoter of social statistics and data visualisation—all of these sides to Nightingale would seem to me to be more attractive to modern readers than to her 19th century contemporaries whose concept of the feminine ideal was that of a wife and mother.

This is a book I found painful to read, even though I loved reading it. Reading the letters I feel that closer than that to the horrors of war, and loss, is hard to get. Coming from the Czech Republic I tend to be bitter about "Peace for our time", but reading this, and other books on the great war makes me understand the British position. This book has stayed with me, and I plan to go back to it sometime. It is not an easy read, but it is a good read.

I had high expectations for this book as I generally enjoy reading biographies of women and remember being interested in Florence Nightingale as a child. Unfortunately this book did not live up to my expectations. Part of the issue for me was the writing style. I found it dry and thought it could have been edited down a bit.

It is a long biography, exploring all of Nightingale's life from childhood through old age. I did find Nightingale's views on nursing interesting. She believed in cleanliness above all else and did not think that nurse's should be trained in medicine, but that they should be caregivers and keep the hospital in order. She also was adamant that there should be a female head nurse in charge of a small group of nurses. The doctors were not very connected to the nurses at all. Running through the entire biography is a study of Nightingale's spirituality. I was surprised by how much of the book dwells on this topic. Although it was obviously a large part of Nightingale's life, I felt that the discussion of spirituality occupied too much of the book. I ended up not really liking Nightingale much at all, which was not what I expected. Although I learned a lot about early nursing and Florence Nightingale, the book was not as enjoyable as I had hoped.

A few months ago, I was sent a proof copy of this book, which came in at just under 550 words. The published hardback version also includes illustrations, and is a massive 672 pages!

In his introduction, Mark Bostridge explains how he has been aided by the gradual appearance of many of Florence Nightingale's selected writings, as well as his research in the unpublished archive of Nightingale family papers. It's obvious just how much work has gone into his book, and it is both detailed and informative.

It is a long, detailed book, and yet it is incredibly readable. It covers everything you can imagine, from Florence Nightingale's family, her time in the Crimean War, her reforms to nursing, and finishes by exploring her role as an icon.

Although this is such a big book, it has been divided into sections, and it is possible to read them separately. Although reading about her family background, and her life growing up will give you that wider understanding of her character as a whole, the sections based around the Crimean War, and those about her health reforms could be read independently.

Being a nurse myself, and having worked at St Thomas's, the nursing section was the most interesting to me. Florence was never interested in nurses carrying out any medical duties, but her passion was on cleanliness - oh how things have changed! It's also interesting to see how early a paid register was in place for nurses.

This is a detailed work, which is highly readable, and offers content suitable for many people - it would be a great buy for anyone with an interest in any aspect of Florence Nightingale's life, and for nurses today, who wish to learn a little more about the background of their profession.

There is nothing like an actual historical record of correspondence to transport the reader from their comfortable chair into the emotion, pain and sadness of the First World War. This collection of letters is tragic as it traces the relationship between Vera Brittain, a VAD in England, Malta and later France, and her fiance, her brother and two other friends. One by one, the boys are killed and the silence left in their wake is palpable in the collection. There is no escaping the tragedy, as the words on the page are the actual words of the key players. I found myself in tears halfway through the book, despite knowing what was coming (the story is well known due to Vera Brittain's other writings). Just because you could anticipate the loss, didn't lessen the tragedy.

I would be hard pressed to find a more poignant account of the First World War than this.

3764. Letters from a Lost Generation The First World War Letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends: Roland Leighton, Edward Brittain, Victor Richardson, Geoffrey Thurlow, edited by Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge (read June 26 2003) As one who was so tremendously impressed by Vera Brittain's Chronicle of Youth (read 14 July 1988) I could not fail to read this book, published in 1999, when I saw it. It is a compilation of letters written to and from the four men named, till each was killed in the War. I could not help but be impressed by how all wanted to be in France (though they knew it was hell on earth) since it was the honorable place to be. A sad book, not really enjoyable to read.

Review by Lucy Lethbridge in FT 28Dec13 Filed