Edith Cavell by Diana Souhami

Judi Nicolay led our discussion of Diana Souhami's biography, Edith Cavell, which follows the life of the British nurse who became a world-renowned symbol of humanitarian courage during World War I. She moved to Brussels to lead a "ramshackle" hospital, which she transformed into a model training school for nurses. When WWI began in 1914, Cavell was visiting family in England but rushed back to Brussels to care for the wounded from all sides—Allied and German alike.

Cavell volunteered to provide medical, shelter and help to Allied soldiers many of whom escaped to neutral Holland. She was betrayed by a collaborator and arrested by German authorities in August 1915. Souhami provides a detailed account of her trial, highlighting the "unjust treatment" she faced, including incorrectly translated documents and a lack of effective legal support. After her trial by the Germans, she was executed by a firing squad.

The book explores how the British government used her death as a powerful recruitment tool, often ignoring her own message of peace and lack of bitterness in favor of a "martyr for the cause" narrative. See Belgian Edith Cavell Commemoration Group