The Forbidden Zone: A Nurse's Impressions of the First World War

By Mary Borden

Mary Borden worked for four years in an evacuation hospital unit following the front lines up and down the European theater of the First World War. This beautifully written book, to be read alongside the likes of Sassoon, Graves, and Remarque, is a collection of her memories and impressions of that experience. Describing the men as they march into battle, engaging imaginatively with the stories of individual soldiers, and recounting procedures at the field hospital, the author offers a perspective on the war that is both powerful and intimate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781843919964

Book preview

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Reviews for The Forbidden Zone

[dramman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was made aware of Mary Borden through a profile in 'Gentleman's Life', a Country Life supplement (of all places) - and this is a searing, often lyrical account of her experiences running field hospitals (which she also financed) near the frontline the first World War- an activity she reprised in WWII. She has great empathy and respect for the French 'poilus', often most frightfully wounded and dying. Her prose is powerful indeed, yet equally remarkable to me is the life she led - her accomplishments and grit in appalling circumstances. An outstanding person, far too little known.

[yooperprof · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mary Borden was an American woman (and heiress) from Chicago, married to a Briton and living in England, who volunteered to serve as a nurse in French hospitals on the Western Front.This collection of "narratives" is a mixed bag. Some of the selections are full of "purple prose," overwritten, and reflecting a prose style which more austere authors of the 20th century discredited. Many 21st century readers will find these narratives unimpressive.Other narratives - especially those in the "Somme" section of the book - are among the finest WWI writing I've read anywhere. I have been looking to find crisp, articulate, committed writing from medical personnel on the Western Front in WWI, and I've found it in "narratives" like "Moonlight" and "In the Operating Room" here in Borden's "Forbidden Zone."

[picardyrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lovely writing about a terrible subject.