Nightingale

The first time we meet Florence Nightingale, it’s 1850, and she is kindly but stern, rescuing a small owlet from being tormented by a group of children. The second time we meet her, it’s 1910: she’s older, frail, and near death, almost completely bed-bound in a house. Memories and dreams have become indistinguishable from reality, and she never sees visitors – until one fateful summer evening, that is, when a mysterious stranger appears on her doorstep.

Silas Bradley is a man with ghosts of his own. He claims to have met Nightingale a half-century ago, during the Crimean War: now, he’s seeking answers about Jean Frawley, an elusive woman who inexplicably connects their two lives.

His quest is a window into a long-buried past. Through their exchanges, we shift between past and present, navigating dark and intricate histories. In the process, Nightingale’s character – her contradictions, determination, faith and complexity – is exposed and unravelled, and the impenetrable figure of the ‘lady with the lamp’ is humanised and made real.

This is Laura Elvery’s debut novel, but in some ways it is a thematic extension of her previous short story collection, which won a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award in 2022. Ordinary Matter and Nightingale are both invested in the lives of women who have made contributions to history and science, and specifically interested in considering them as not only myths, but also as people. This is cleverly indirect work, which enhances, rather than diminishes, appreciation for the given figure. Elvery’s transition to the longer novel format is faultlessly executed, but some of the fragmentation of the short story medium is retained in her luminous, exacting prose, giving it a deeply compelling, unique and almost kaleidoscopic tone. The entire book is a haunting and thought-provoking achievement: a considered, poignant exploration of the many faces of Florence Nightingale, and a powerful vindication of bravery, care and women’s work.