Truth be told, I had to let this book settle with me before I wrote a review. There was more than once, because of the males in this book, that I wanted to throw this book across the room in frustration. Eleanor is a trained doctor, graduating seventh in her class during WWI. When she is given the opportunity to go to France to be the personal doctor of a childhood friend. However when she gets there, very little goes according to plan. The childhood friend doesn’t want her around, the doctors and nurses in the hospital don’t want her around and Eleanor is questioning whether it was right for her to even come. However, she doesn’t back down and digs in when the situation calls for it. I admire Eleanor’s determination, grit and perseverance. In the end, I absolutely loved this book and loved how Leica wrapped it up. Highly recommend this book for an unique view into WWI battlefronts. ( )

After graduating from medical school, Eleanor finds it impossible to find work as a woman in the 1910's. When given the opportunity to travel to France as the private doctor of her brother's childhood friend, she jumps at the chance. Despite the prejudice against her sex, she quickly becomes invaluable to the medical post, proving herself over and over.

It seemed throughout the book that all of the characters were obsessed over romance. I found this very off putting. I wanted to read a story about a strong independent woman, not someone who wanted to fall in love with every man that she met. Despite this criticism, I did enjoy reading about Eleanor's successes, and her fight for equality at the medical station. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars. ( )

The Woman at the Front was inspired by a conversation author Lecia Cornwall had with her grandfather, who served as a gunner during World War I, when she was about fifteen years old. Her great-uncle served as an infantryman -- right on the front lines, while her grandfather and the other gunners remained tucked well behind. Her grandfather didn't learn until a few days after the battle that his brother had been killed. All those years later, he asked Cornwall to find her great-uncle's grave. When she, accompanied by her children, visited the burial site, she was moved to pen a story set during World War I. Cornwall dedicated The Woman at the Front to the great-uncle she never knew, who died on April 9, 1917, as well as her grandmother, "who told me his brother's story and made me promise never to forget."

While conducting research for the book, Cornwall learned that the British government permitted women to serve only as ambulance drivers or nurses, but "felt it was too frightening, too dangerous, too disturbing" for men to be treated female doctors. Rather, women who graduated from medical school and went on to serve as physicians were required to limit their practices to treating only women and children because because of a belief that there were "some things women could not handle." The French did not wholeheartedly share those views and welcomed female doctors -- but kept them off the front lines of battle.

As The Woman at the Front opens, Eleanor Atherton has applied to serve for overseas medical service and been invited to an interview with an undersecretary in the War Office. However, when the undersecretary learns "E. Atherton" is sitting before him, he unsurprisingly fumes, "Young woman, my advice to you is to go home, sit down, and take up something more useful, such as knitting." Which is precisely why Eleanor used only her first initial. "Miss Atherton" had already been rejected by every bureaucrat she had contacted by letter or attempted to meet with in person. But she will not be dissuaded, reminding the undersecretary that her father, Dr. John Atherton, was once an army doctor and her brother, Edward, is serving at French headquarters. Eleanor, age twenty-three, graduated seventh in her class from the University of Edinburgh just eight months earlier. Her class was comprised of more than one hundred and thirty men -- and just two women.

Undaunted, Eleanor accepts the only assignment offered. She agrees to travel to France to accompany Louis Chastaine home, at the request of his mother, a countess. Eleanor has long had a crush on Louis, whose brother was killed just a few months ago. Being lauded as a hero, Louis sustained a broken leg when the plane he was piloting was shot down over France. The countess is determined that Louis return at once to carry out his responsibilities to his family and title as the last Chastaine heir.

For all of her wealth and privilege, the countess recognizes that Eleanor's talents are not being put to use -- solely because of her gender -- revealing she asked that Eleanor assist at the convalescent hospital but her father declined the request on Eleanor's behalf. He also asked that the countess not disclose the discussion to Eleanor, who is outraged by her father's "high-handed decision." When the countess reminds Eleanor that she has powerful friends who can ensure the development of her career, Eleanor agrees, even though she recognizes that the countess is using her "as bait, something feminine and soft to dangle before Louis, a siren to lure him home," despite her recognition that she is the "least siren-like woman in all England." Even though she is being presented a dare, Eleanor also knows she is being offered an adventure and, at last, "her chance to prove herself, to truly be a doctor." Over her parents' objections, the next chapter of Eleanor's life begins.

Of course, Eleanor is not prepared for what she encounters. Her trip has barely begun when she is accosted on the train by a group of rowdy soldiers. She is rescued by a Scottish sergeant, Fraser MacLeod, who explains that he serves not as a doctor, but as a stretcher bearer. At six-foot-five and strong, he was selected and trained "to find wounded men on the battlefield, to stop bleeding, give morphine, bandage wounds under fire, and get them back to where a medical officer can do more." Fraser begins educating Eleanor on the realities of war and when they reach the Casualty Clearing Station where Louis is being treated, she is informed that Lieutenant Chastaine will not be able to travel for weeks . . . and is a problematic patient. She is warned that Colonel Belford, who is in charge of the Casualty Clearing Station, will definitely perceive her presence as meddling . . . and has the authority to order her to leave. Indeed, he only relents and permits her to stay when Eleanor presents written permission to attend to Louis, issued by a regimental commander who outranks him.

Louis, whose injury is severe enough that it could still result in the loss of his leg, behaves like the spoiled, entitled, and roguish aristocrat he is. He is surrounded by hangers-on who see the war as an inconvenience, popping champagne and partying in the medical facility with no regard for the other wounded soldiers they are disturbing. But Louis is clearly fond of Eleanor because of their shared history and the fact that Edward is his best friend. "Under his careful facade of charm and careless courage, she suspected there was much more." And before the book's end, Cornwall reveals whether Eleanor's hunch about Louis is accurate.

Eleanor soon gets her wish -- the rules be damned, she is pressed into service as a doctor when the war demands it. Convention no longer matters when men are wounded and there are not enough male doctors to treat them all. Cornwall, who endears Eleanor to readers at the outset, takes them along with her on a harrowing journey. Danger, death, disillusionment, and fatigue are everywhere and inescapable, and Eleanor fervently works alongside the other medical personnel to save as many wounded as she possibly can. She learns to catch a few brief hours of sleep when there is a brief respite, practicing medicine under unimaginably horrible conditions without sufficient supplies of medication, bandages, and other essentials. She comes to understand the necessity to triage the wounded by recognizing that some are beyond her ability to save them and providing comfort to those unfortunate victims of battle as best she can. Days pass during which she and her fellow medical professionals do not rest or see daylight because they remain on their feet tending to the endless stream of wounded who are delivered to the facility by Fraser and his fellow stretcher bearers.

Cornwall's thorough research and command of her subject matter is evident throughout the fast-paced, riveting tale. It is a gritty, unsparing portrait of the fulfillment of Eleanor's dream of serving, even though she finally gets the chance to practice medicine under conditions that can only be described as nightmarish. Cornwall surrounds Eleanor with a compelling cast of supporting characters, including fellow doctors who reluctantly and begrudgingly come to respect her talent and tenaciousness. Among those characters is Matron Connolly, the stern, procedural stickler who oversees the nursing staff and resents the presence of a female doctor in the ward she manages. Can Eleanor impress Matron Connolly enough to win her over? Some of Cornwall's characters heartbreakingly succumb to wounds, as well as influenza as it sweeps across Europe and claims soldiers, doctors, nurses, and civilians. "Someone who was healthy in the morning might collapse in the afternoon with fever and die before the next dawn."

The story would be less enthralling absent the eventual revelation of family secrets that make Eleanor's experiences even more meaningful and, of course, the feelings that develop between Eleanor and Fraser. But stretcher bearers "have a bad habit of betting killed, and there's never enough trained men to replace them." Will Fraser survive the war? And even if he does, will Eleanor's attraction to him survive, as well? After all, they come from different socioeconomic classes, and Fraser intends to return to Scotland when the war finally ends.

The Woman at the Front is a beautifully crafted coming-of-age story. Cornwall believably and compassionately chronicles Eleanor's evolution from an inexperienced but qualified doctor yearning to utilize the knowledge and skills she has acquired to a seasoned physician who faces every challenge with courage, commitment, and resilience. Readers will find themselves unable to put the book down until they learn the fate of every one of Cornwall's characters.

World War I does not provide the background for engrossing historical fiction nearly as frequently as does World War II. Cornwall wants readers to remember that it was an important era because it marked a time of great "change in warfare and medicine and so many other things . . ." and is replete with poignant, moving, and frequently tragic stories of sacrifice, loss, and triumph. Like the fictional accounts she includes in the story.

Cornwall hopes readers are inspired by The Woman at the Front and that her depiction of Eleanor's experiences convincingly demonstrates the "good things that can come out of hardship as well. And we certainly need that these days."

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book. ( )

Fascinating solid read!

Compelling story about a young woman’s fight to be recognized as a doctor during WW1 by her family, her community and the War Office. It’s 1918, the allies are being hammered on the Western Front. All Eleanor Atherton wants to do is follow her calling. She’s hampered by the times. Women doctors are given no respect. They “weren’t wanted by the military, the War Office, or even the Red Cross, no matter how competent or willing they might be.” They are seen by many as betraying feminine standards in general, and as the weaker sex. Rather than be exposed to the brutalities of the war and life in the trenches, they should have their sensibilities protected. They should undertake “more ladylike pursuits.” I loved it when Eleanor told an undersecretary in the War Office that she didn’t knit, she embroidered to ensure her suturing would be perfect.
Then a series of circumstances has Eleanor agreeing to journey to France for the local landowner, the Countess of Kirkwall, to the Casualty Clearing Station at Sainte-Croix. She’s been tasked to bring home her twin brother’s childhood friend, Louis Chastaine, Viscount Somerton, who’s recently inherited the family title. Louis was the younger son and this is not what he wants. Louis is a talented pilot who just wants to keep doing what he loves the most. Enroute to Arras, at Calais, Eleanor is befriended by a stretcher bearer, Sergeant Fraser MacLeod, a man whose ready acceptance of her as a doctor gives her strength.
A series of mishaps and the surge of injured at the Front has Eleanor tending to casualties, despite the rigidity of the commanding officer and the matron. The wounded and dying only cared that she was a doctor.
Talk about an innocent abroad! There were moments at Calais when she was in real trouble. The scenes at the front are horrific. Eleanor demonstrates she has the stomach and the determination to use her talents, and to answer her calling, legal or not. The truly harrowing experiences described really do expose the human cost of war.
Eleanor finally accepts her fractured familial relationships, which is an underlying sorrow. Her relationship with her twin I found troubling.
Cornwell’s author’s notes give more clarity about the roles and regulations of personnel at this time, and the fighting conditions on the Front for Allied forces. Places mentioned like Vimy Ridge resound for many.
The romantic aspects round Eleanor’s character out, although the coincidences did sort of annoy me, as did Eleanor’s behavior with her family.
Despite this I found myself absorbed in both Eleanor’s struggles with mores of the time and with the conditions on the Front.

A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change ( )