Book Share

"When We Had Wings"

An interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.

The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S. Army nurse Penny Franklin, and Filipina nurse Lita Capel forge a friendship at the Army Navy Club in Manila, they believe they’re living a paradise assignment. All three are seeking a way to escape their pasts, but soon the beauty and promise of their surroundings give way to the heavy mantle of war.

Caught in the crosshairs of a fight between the U.S. military and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of the Philippine Islands, the nurses are forced to serve under combat conditions and, ultimately, endure captivity as the first female prisoners of the Second World War. As their resiliency is tested in the face of squalid living arrangements, food shortages, and the enemy's blatant disregard for the articles of the Geneva Convention, the women strive to keep their hope— and their fellow inmates—alive, though not without great cost.

A few inspiring extras...

.....A video about these nurses from a historian:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZD59vApUWc

.....A book review and synopsis of the novel:  https://www.sincerelystacie.com/2022/10/book-review-when-we-had-wings-by-ariel-lawhon-kristina-mcmorris-and-susan-meissner/

.....A remembrance of one of the nurses in the novel, Ruby Bradley.  

Colonel Bradley remains the nation’s most decorated female veteran. She earned and was honored with 34 medals and citations for bravery. Among her medals and citations were two Legion of Merit medals, two Bronze Stars, and a U.N. Korean Service Medal with seven battle stars.   

https://gotmountainlife.com/the-most-decorated-woman-in-u-s-military-history/

The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis

New York City, 1929. A sanatorium, a deadly disease, and a dire nursing shortage.

In the pre-antibiotic days when tuber­culosis stirred people’s darkest fears, killing one in seven, white nurses at Sea View, New York’s largest municipal hospital, began quitting en masse. Desperate to avert a public health crisis, city officials summoned Black southern nurses, luring them with promises of good pay, a career, and an escape from the stric­tures of Jim Crow. But after arriving, they found themselves on an isolated hilltop in the remote borough of Staten Island, yet again confronting racism and consigned to a woefully understaffed sanatorium, dubbed “the pest house,” where it was said that “no one left alive.”

Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, this remarkable true story follows the intrepid young women known by their patients as the “Black Angels.” For twenty years, they risked their lives work­ing under appalling conditions while caring for New York’s poorest residents, who languished in wards, waiting to die, or became guinea pigs for experimental surgeries and often deadly drugs. But despite their major role in desegregating the New York City hospital system—and their vital work in helping to find the cure for tuberculo­sis at Sea View—these nurses were completely erased from history. The Black Angels recovers the voices of these extraordinary women and puts them at the center of this riveting story, celebrating their legacy and spirit of survival.

Winner of the Christopher Award 2024
NPR Science Friday Best Summer Beach Reads 2024
Gotham Book Finalist 2024
NASW Science in Society Journalism Award Finalist 2024
PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize Finalist 2024

Women can be Heros

Explore the role of war time nurses whose idealism and courage have raised the profession to “the most trusted profession in the world."

This is the story of nurses who served in the Vietnam War. Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a nurse, served in the United States Army. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism. “The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.”

A Tattoo on my Brain

Dr. Daniel Gibbs is one of 50 million people worldwide with an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. Unlike most patients with Alzheimer’s, however, Dr. Gibbs worked as a neurologist for 25 years, caring for patients with the very disease now affecting him. Also unusual is that Dr Gibbs had begun to suspect he had Alzheimer’s several years before any official diagnosis could be made. Forewarned by genetic testing showing he carried alleles that increased the risk of developing the disease, he noticed symptoms of mild cognitive impairment long before any tests would have alerted him. 

In this highly personal account, Dr Gibbs documents the effect his diagnosis has had on his life and explains his advocacy for improving early recognition of Alzheimer’s. Weaving clinical knowledge from decades caring for dementia patients with his personal experience of the disease, this is an optimistic tale of one man’s journey with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.