Daisy Ashton Abroad — Susan Leona Fisher

Set in the period of the Crimean War (1853-6) to the start of the Indian Mutiny (1857) this fictional portrayal features several real historical figures and draws on the correspondence, journals and books written at the time. The fictional heroine, Daisy, was born in Jamaica and is of mixed heritage, but has been reared in an aristocratic household in London, where she receives an education but no place in society. She trains as a nurse and goes to the Crimea, where she encounters the rivalry between Florence Nightingale and Mother Francis Bridgeman and her party of Catholic nuns, which is reflected also in tensions within the army medical service. She also meets young diplomat Lucas Denton and we watch their relationship develop over the brief, intermittent meetings that often characterise wartime. The story is told by Daisy writing in the first person, rather in the style of a journal.Set in the period of the Crimean War (1853-6) to the start of the Indian Mutiny (1857) this fictional portrayal features several real historical figures and draws on the correspondence, journals and books written at the time. The fictional heroine, Daisy, was born in Jamaica and is of mixed heritage, but has been reared in an aristocratic household in London, where she receives an education but no place in society. She trains as a nurse and goes to the Crimea, where she encounters the rivalry between Florence Nightingale and Mother Francis Bridgeman and her party of Catholic nuns, which is reflected also in tensions within the army medical service. She also meets young diplomat Lucas Denton and we watch their relationship develop over the brief, intermittent meetings that often characterise wartime. The story is told by Daisy writing in the first person, rather in the style of a journal.