Mary Seacole was a real hero of the Crimean War, a self-proclaimed “doctoress” and contemporary of Florence Nightingale. She was a black Jamaican woman who risked her life to help sick and dying soldiers at the battlefront. This tale imagines her experiences as she faces impossible challenges, grapples with the flaws of human nature, and copes with death and loss. The Crimean War was the first war of the industrial era. Its armies, unadjusted to modern warfare, pitted Russian muskets against French rifles. For the first time in history, telegraph sent speedy press reports to newspapers, and war photography showed pictures of the horror to the public at home. In this war, Mary Seacole confronted killing on an industrial scale, as well as thousands of deaths from infectious disease, when little was available to treat the dying.

 The Black Nightingale is Mary Seacole, a true heroine of the Crimean War and British History.  Author Julia Buss has captured her remarkable spirit, her determination, and her amazing courage in the face of adversity that threatened to keep her from her life’s mission; that of saving lives. This story walked me right onto the battlefields during the mid-18^th century along with Mary.  Julia Buss’s writing enabled me to visualize and feel the unconditional love, the deep compassion and the devotion this black Jamaican nurse had for humanity; especially the wounded and dying soldiers.  As Mary Seacole often risked her own life to save the men engaged in this war, her courageous character became truly inspirational.  

Mary Seacole was a proud, compassionate and accomplished Jamaican woman.  When following the news of the Crimean War and the illnesses plaguing the soldiers, she traveled from Jamaica to London’s War Office to offer her medical expertise and nursing services. There she waited patiently, to serve as a member of the war nursing team, alongside Florence Nightingale who was going to the Crimean, a Ukrainian peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.  Rejected for service by the War Office and by Florence Nightingale herself, Mary was not deterred from finding a way to serve the sick, wounded and dying men.  She, along with a dear friend, Thomas Day, independently traveled to the town of Balaklava, a mere two miles from the siege.  Mary chose her location carefully, because she knew many wounded would never survive the long trip to Nightingale’s military hospital.  There, Mary and Thomas set up hospital beds and a clinic in the British Hotel.  When the men could not come to her, Mary courageously went to them; even in the mist of battle.