{"id":10048,"date":"2018-03-16T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T14:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=10048"},"modified":"2024-01-29T20:11:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T01:11:29","slug":"an-unmarked-grave-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10048","title":{"rendered":"An Unmarked Grave"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Unmarked Grave<\/a><\/em> (2012) Charles Todd<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in Europe in the spring of 1918.<\/p>\n

A new enemy has entered the war, one that indiscriminately cuts down both sides.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Influenza had already cut down three of our nursing sisters, and two doctors were not expected to live through the night. The rest of us were struggling to keep men alive in the crowded wards and losing the battle hourly. Depressing to watch the bodies being carried out, one more soldier lost to an enemy we couldn\u2019t even see. <\/p>\n

It was an insidious killer, this influenza. I\u2019d watched men in the best of health in the afternoon gasping for breath by the next morning, tossing with fever, lying too ill to speak, then fighting to draw a next breath. I\u2019d watched nurses and orderlies work with patients for days on end without showing a single sign of illness, only to collapse unexpectedly and join the ranks of the dying. The young were particularly vulnerable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An orderly comes to Bess, because he has found an extra dead man with the corpses they have prepared for burial detail. Bess recognizes the man, but before she can tell anyone, she is stricken with the influenza herself, and eventually ends up at home to recover.<\/p>\n

I quite like the premise of this book–that finding a body right before being struck down with the flu would not only delay reporting, but would also make her likely to believe that memory was simply a fever dream. <\/p>\n

And I appreciate the clear look at how the flu devastated the soldiers–far more than the fighting itself did.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we received more influenza patients than battlefield wounded.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I find it fascinating how the war and modern transportation influenced the spread of the flu, and also how the flu affected the war.<\/p>\n

Another reminder that life was very different during this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did he die then?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom overwork\u2014 exhaustion. We weren\u2019t sleeping at all, and we ate only when we remembered and there was time. It took a toll on all of us. And Private Wilson was nearing forty, wasn\u2019t he?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was forty-one his last birthday.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat could explain it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Very different.<\/p>\n

(H)e managed to remove the bullet and find the tiny bit of uniform that had gone into the wound with it, probing carefully without adding to the damage already there. For the shot had clipped a corner of (his) lung, and we were fearful that it had clipped an artery as well. But the bleeding stopped as we began to close the wound, and his color was better. <\/p>\n

Next would come the fight against deadly infection, although we had cleaned the wound as thoroughly as we could.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s something that can’t be emphasized enough–how antibiotics truly and drastically changed medicine, and how current misuse could return us to such a nightmare.
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: William Morrow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Unmarked Grave (2012) Charles Todd Set in Europe in the spring of 1918. A new enemy has entered the war, one that indiscriminately cuts down both sides. The Spanish Influenza had already cut down three of our nursing sisters, and two doctors were not expected to live through the night. The rest of us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[194,30,48,33,8,742,41],"tags":[124,123,564,573,45],"class_list":["post-10048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-british","category-female","category-historical","category-mystery","category-physical-health","category-reread","tag-bess-crawford","tag-charles-todd","tag-pandemic","tag-serious-illness","tag-wwi"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2C4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3467,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3467","url_meta":{"origin":10048,"position":0},"title":"An Unmarked Grave","author":"Michelle","date":"January 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"An Unmarked Grave (2012) Charles Todd The fourth Bess Crawford mystery finds the Spanish Influenza doing more damage to the soldiers fighting--and the civilians at home--than the Great War itself was doing. I've been morbidly fascinated by this flu since I learned about it. It was truly a horrible disease,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Unmarked-Grave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10057,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10057","url_meta":{"origin":10048,"position":1},"title":"A Pattern of Lies","author":"Michelle","date":"March 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Pattern of Lies (2015) Charles Todd Set in Europe in Autumn 1918 It's time to take a break from this series. Reading one after the other is making me notice the weaknesses rather than the strengths. It's unfortunately, because I thought the bits about the mill were very interesting.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pattern-of-Lies.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10051,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10051","url_meta":{"origin":10048,"position":2},"title":"A Question of Honor","author":"Michelle","date":"March 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Question of Honor (2013) Charles Todd Set in Europe during the summer of 1918. I still really like this historical bits of these stories. The war is still ranging, influenza is still decimating the ranks on both sides, and the militaries are learning how to fight this \"new\" war.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/a-question-of-honor.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3478,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3478","url_meta":{"origin":10048,"position":3},"title":"Search the Dark","author":"Michelle","date":"January 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Search the Dark (1999) Charles Todd This is the third Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery. A man goes made on a train, believe he's seen his wife and children, who were killed when their house collapsed and burned during the war. When a woman's body appears--badly beaten and disfigured--suspicion falls upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Search-Dark.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13222,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13222","url_meta":{"origin":10048,"position":4},"title":"The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History","author":"Michelle","date":"June 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (2004\/2009\/2018) John M. Barry I started this immediately after finishing Gina Kolata's book on the flu. Interestingly, these books work well together. This book looks at things up to and during the outbreak, Kolata's book is during and after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/The-Great-Influenza.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13775,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13775","url_meta":{"origin":10048,"position":5},"title":"A Pattern of Lies","author":"Michelle","date":"December 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Pattern of Lies (2015) Charles Todd (Bess Crawford) Set in England and France in 1918. Stuck in Canterbury waiting for a transport train to take her to London, Bess meets a soldier she had helped nurse back to health. Invited to spend the night with his family when the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pattern of Lies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pattern-of-Lies.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}