Synopsis: When the First World War begins, Alexandra wants to do something useful, like her brothers and her father. She has a vocation to become a nurse. Her middle class background forbids her to do anything but stay at home and wait to be married. But Alexandra can find no peace. She is haunted by an ability to sense when someone is about to die. Like Cassandra on the battlefields of Troy, she can foresee, but she can do nothing to avert the future. Finally, convinced that her brother is about to die in France, Alexandra disguises herself as a nurse and sets out to see if she can save him.

Review:This is a well-written and haunting tale, depicting some of the horrors of the Great War. It is told in a journal-type style by Alexandra, and the narrative has an almost dream-like quality in places. Through Alexandra desire to nurse, we see the restrictions put on women before the war, but also how these change as women become necessary as a workforce. We see the wounded men returning from the front, and feel the senselessness of the killing and maiming, without actually being taken into the trenches. Alexandra’s perspective allows us to see the war at a distance.

 Alexandra’s ability to foresee the future sets her apart from others. Like Cassandra, she is doomed not to be believed. It is a lonely destiny. But finally Alexandra meets Jack, a despatch rider with the same uncanny ability that she has. Together they go in search of Alexandra’s brother: to see whether the future is, as Jack says, inescapable, or whether it can be changed.

This is a gripping read in its own right, but also a very useful text for exploring issues around the First World War. There are many possible topics for discussion arising from the story: apart from the rights and wrongs of war itself, there is the issue of women in society, and the question of fate versus free choice.

A set of teaching notes is available on The Foreshadowing website http://www.theforeshadowing.net/

2006-10-27