In the early hours of 26 February 1918, the British hospital ship
Glenart Castle steamed into the Bristol Channel, heading for France to
pick up wounded men from the killing fields of the Western Front. On
board was 32-year-old Australian nurse, Edith Blake. Unbeknown to the
ship's company, a German U-boat lurked in the waters below.
When Edith Blake missed out on joining the Australian Army, she was one
of 130 Australian nurses allotted to the British Queen Alexandra's
Imperial Military Nursing Service in early 1915. Her first posting was
in Cairo where she nursed soldiers wounded at Gallipoli. In Edith's
remarkable letters to her family back home, she shares her homesickness
and frustration with military rules, along with the savagery of the
injuries she witnessed in the operating theatre. Later, at Belmont War
Hospital in Surrey, she writes of her conflicted feelings about nursing
German prisoners of war even as battles on the Western Front raged and
German aircraft bombed England.
In Edith Blake's War, her great niece, Krista Vane-Tempest, traces
Edith's gripping story, from training in Sydney to her war service in
the Middle East, England and the Mediterranean, and her tragic death in
waters where Germany had promised the safe passage of hospital ships.
'Beautifully written and an engaging read, Edith Blake's War opens a
window on unsung areas of Australian nurses' service at war. Krista
Vane-Tempest's meticulous research enhances understanding but never
intrudes, as Sister Blake's own voice brings her wartime experiences
vibrantly to life. An ultimately moving book born of connection to
family across generations.' - Janet Butler
'Edith Blake's story powerfully evokes the horrors and dangers of
nursing during the Great War while capturing the poignant and special
bond Australian nurses forged with Anzac soldiers. Krista Vane-Tempest
deftly weaves the larger context of the war throughout Edie's remarkable
letters home and gives her the long overdue recognition her courage
warrants.' - Peter Rees
'More than a biography, Krista Vane-Tempest has penned a tribute to
the contribution and sacrifice of Australian women during the First
World War. In doing so, she has rediscovered the evocative story of
Edith Blake, nurse to the Anzacs and British troops and whose life was
tragically lost in that terrible conflict.' - Karl James
