The surgeon of Royaumont

Neuhaus, Susan J.2025

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Summary

As one of only a handful of female medical graduates working at the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Clara Heywood refuses to be denied the chance to become a surgeon because of her sex. As her male colleagues, including her unofficial fiance Edward, head off to war, Clara grapples with a sense of her own unfulfilled purpose. In defiance of her own family and all convention, she leaves for France to work at the Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont Abbey, a hospital managed entirely by women on the Western Front. There, under the tutelage of Miss Frances Ivens, Clara is thrust into the brutal realities of war, the technical intricacies of surgery and the profound ethical and emotional toll it exacts. Surgery tests not only her skills but her values and Clara discovers that her greatest adversaries are not the wounds of war but the internal conflicts that shape her understanding of humanity, and the heavy burden of her own ambition. Clara's journey transcends the confines of history, embodying the timeless struggle for identity, purpose, and humanity amidst the horrors of war, and bringing to light the courage and sacrifice of women.