BOOK REVIEW: Flight of the Wild Swan by Melissa Pritchard

I remember reading, as a kid, those biographies for middle schoolers of important women in history: Jane Addams, Clara Barton, and, of course, Florence Nightingale. The name Florence Nightingale is particularly enduring, and I’ve read other novels where she is sometimes a prominent figure and sometimes mentioned off-handedly. But what they all had in common was the focus on or recognition of her service in the Crimean War and the way she made nursing a respectable occupation for women. A profession.

Flight of the Wild Swan by Melissa Pritchard digs deeper. This biographical novel tells a more nuanced and complete story of the life of the woman. Beginning in her childhood, one of two daughters born into wealth and privilege, Florence felt called by God to help the less fortunate. Her own comfort distressed her. Watching the way her mother (and others) dispensed insufficient charity made her yearn to do more.

The novel takes us through Florence’s early years and the struggles she underwent in order to be allowed to learn nursing, to which she then added an innate ability for administration and the social status to forge connections in high political circles. A lot went into the shaping of Florence Nightingale before she ever sailed off to Scutari.

The novel shows how she found purpose in Crimea, which gave her the strength to work relentlessly and show unceasing compassion for the suffering soldiers. The book dives deep into the horrors of the war compounded by the inefficiencies of the War Department and the resistance of some of the military doctors who didn’t want women around. 

Told as a series of vignettes, the novel beautifully expands on the life story of Florence Nightingale, so that we see her not only as the legendary heroine we recognize, but as a complicated, intelligent, three-dimensional woman, who sacrificed much to answer God’s call.

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez introduces us to the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh, Johanna. She was the wife of Theo Van Gogh. All I knew of the great artist was the rather simplistic story that he was never appreciated in his lifetime. And that his brother was an art dealer who tried, without much success, to sell his paintings. Vincent’s talent was only recognized posthumously. 

But how? There is a leap to be made from Vincent Van Gogh’s death to his later fame. The fact that he reached the heights he did is even more remarkable given that Theo died very shortly after Vincent. The credit belongs to Johanna Van Gogh, without whom his work very likely would have been lost.

In this detailed and imaginative biographical novel, Jo receives the recognition she deserves. Defying convention, the young widow does not return to her father’s house to be taken care of. Instead, she moves to Bussum, a small town in the Netherlands, and runs a boardinghouse. And raises her infant son. All the while, she fights to bring Vincent Van Gogh’s work to the eyes of the art world, selling his paintings, arranging exhibits, and writing opinion pieces. The fight is real, as she is opposed by men who repeatedly tell her women do not belong in their sphere. And she is particularly opposed by a prominent Parisian dealer, Georges Raulf, who is obsessed with cleansing the art world by destroying anything modernist, most particularly the work of Van Gogh.

It’s a hard road for Jo, but readers will rejoice alongside the heroine as her striving is ultimately rewarded.