Title: Wild Swan: A Story of Florence Nightingale
Author: Patti Callahan
Narrator: Cynthia Erivo
Published: December 2020, Audible Originals
Length: 1 hour 54 minutes
Source: Personal copy
Summary:
In this captivating
historical novella narrated by Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Erivo,
New York Times best-selling author Patti Callahan Henry celebrates the
life of the mother of modern nursing and one of history’s greatest
heroines: Florence Nightingale.
Wild Swan introduces listeners
to the Lady with the Lamp long before she became a legend. In this
poignant story, a young woman has just discovered her divine purpose to
become a nurse, and struggles to make that dream a reality. While
traveling abroad with her close friend, Selina Bracebridge – another
strong woman living an unconventional life – a rare opportunity arises
for Florence to practice medicine. Intellectually gifted with an
advanced education thanks to her father’s progressive political views,
can the daughter of a prominent English family defy Victorian societal
expectations to fulfill her destiny?
Over the course of a few
short years, Florence remains brave and determined in the face of all
obstacles, pursuing her passion against her family’s wishes. From her
parent’s luxurious countryside estate in England to her travels abroad
to the German medical institute where she first began her training and
fell in love with her work, we follow Florence during these pivotal
early years of her extraordinary life.
My thoughts: I am loving these Audible Original Stories that I have found. While they all tend to be quite short, some novellas or even prequels to novels I have read, some, such as this one, tend to be more focused on giving a snapshot of someone’s life. I honestly did not know much about Florence Nightingale before listening to this story and now I am left wanting to know more about her life – isn’t that the best feeling? When you read something and it leaves you with a thirst for more knowledge?
I loved getting to see this snapshot into Florence Nightingale’s life – how she came to become a nurse and the issues her family initially had with this decision. I loved how Patti Callahan brings to light that fact that it was not custom for women to want to do anything but marry and the fact that Florence wanted to write and become a nurse was basically unheard of, yet she stood her ground.
This short story really is quite informative and I love that it came out around Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday. It also serves to remind us just how important our nurses have been during this pandemic.
Audio thoughts: This was a great audio and the narrator, Cynthia Ervio did such a fantastic job bringing the story to life. Her pacing and intonation were spot on and she really made this story quite enjoyable to listen to. I hope to see her name on some other audiobooks soon!
Thank you for the review of an intriguing story.