In the Shadow of the Lamp

In the Shadow of the Lamp
By Susanne Dunlap
Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2011. 293 pgs. Young Adult

After Molly is wrongfully accused of stealing and fired from her job as a parlormaid, she hears that Florence Nightingale is looking for nurses to go to Turkey to help take care of soldiers wounded in the Crimean war. Molly doesn't have any real nursing experience, but she's determined to take advantage of this opportunity and manages to trick her way into the group of nurses. As much as she loves nursing, she finds it slightly hard to obey all of the rules, especially the one about not fraternizing with any men. There's a handsome young doctor who seems interested in her, but then a friend from England (who actually helped her make it to Turkey) follows her to Turkey, enlisting in the army in order to be near her. With her heart drawn to both men, and her job as well, Molly has to figure out what she truly wants from life.

I liked the historical setting of this novel and found Molly to be a fun character--spunky and determined. I will say that I'm a bit tired of the love triangle theme, and the ending was a little bit more vague than I would have liked, but overall, I did enjoy the book and will definitely read other books by this author.

AE