SILENT IN AN EVIL TIME

Edith Cavell’s story ought to be better known. A British nurse in a Brussels clinic, she was training other nurses when World War I broke out. When the Germans occupied Belgium, and many British and French soldiers got caught behind the lines, Cavell used the clinic as a shelter for the soldiers before helping them to escape. Caught, tried and sentenced to die before a firing squad, Cavell’s execution angered the world. Enlistments into the British Expeditionary Force soared and, later, streets and even mountaintops were named after her. Few biographies of Cavell have been written for young readers, so this fills a gap, though the writing is often clunky, sounding more like a school report than a literary biography. A chapter on Florence Nightingale interrupts the story and seems odd in this biography. Though few sources on Cavell are available, the bibliography might have provided sources on WWI. Add this to the growing body of wartime resistance stories to inform and inspire young readers. (Nonfiction. 10+)