No Man's Land

The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain's Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I

By: Wendy Moore

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The "absorbing and powerful" (Wall Street Journal) story of two pioneering suffragette doctors who shattered social expectations and transformed modern medicine during World War I

A month after war broke out in 1914, doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson set out for Paris, where they opened a hospital in a luxury hotel and treated hundreds of casualties plucked from France's battlefields. Although, prior to the war and the Spanish flu, female doctors were restricted to treating women and children, Flora and Louisa's work was so successful that the British Army asked them to set up a hospital in the heart of London. Nicknamed the Suffragettes' Hospital, Endell Street soon became known for its lifesaving treatments.

In No Man's Land, Wendy Moore illuminates this turbulent moment of global war and pandemic when women were, for the first time, allowed to operate on men. Their fortitude and brilliance serve as powerful reminders of what women can achieve against all odds.

©2020 Wendy Moore (P)2020 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Meticulously researched, written with élan and wit, Moore's account comes at just the right time... No Man's Land reminds us that people can rise to an occasion, that the biggest advances—for medicine, for humanity—can come during the toughest times, as a result of the toughest times. It reminds us that great courage and great ingenuity are possible even when the world feels very dark."—New York Times

"An absorbing and powerful narrative of how two determined women used the crisis of war to create an opportunity to accomplish goals that they couldn't achieve in peacetime.... Ms. Moore has an eye for detail that brings her story to life."—Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating, carefully researched... Wendy Moore vividly depicts the convoys of seriously wounded soldiers arriving straight from the battlefields in France in the hospital's courtyard in the middle of the night... Moore is superb at describing the medical advances that resulted in seven research papers by Endell Street doctors being published in The Lancet, among the first ever by women."—Guardian

Entertaining and informative

I listened to this recording straight through. He captivated me like few things I have ever read. I cannot give it high enough marks for both style of writing and subject matter highly recommended!

women in medicine history

Great story, love the research. I feel this story could have been told in a more contracted way. These ladies made a difference in ont only surgical health care during the war but showed the worth of a women's intellect, drive, common sense and capabilities. it was a first foot in the steps of women in medicine, regardless of their sexual preferences. today, women in medicine equal to their male counterparts.... however some specialties are more male dominant, by choice.

Well researched and fascinating

This nonfiction account of Londons Endell St Hospital during WWI is eye-opening and well told. I learned so much about the path towards women’s suffrage and the struggles of women to work as physicians - it was a king and bumpy path to where we are today and so important to understand how often hard-won rights were taken away. We need to appreciate how hard it was to get to the equality - incomplete though it still is - that we enjoy today

Fascinating history of women in medicine

A very interesting look at the intersection of suffragettes in England, a history of women in the medical field in England, and the WWI need for medical personnel.

Female heros of Sufferage, War work, and equality

An amazing history of powerful queer women who's lives and policy advocacy effect us to this day. Fighting for Suffrage, equal work, equal pay, and medical contribution to the war effort- they changed the outcome of the war and the world going forward. They lived by the Suffrage motto, Deeds Not Words and gave it true meaning.

Very informative

Decisions on a person’s ability based on a person’s sex, race, religion, or national origin just baffles me and has all my 70+ years

Important material, too repetitive

Like another reviewer, I was inspired by the review in The New York Times Book Review to listen to this book. And, like that other reviewer, I was disappointed. The topic is important. I am a feminist and have been as early as I can remember (going back to kindergarten, though I didn’t know the word then) and certainly relate to being faced with unequal access as a woman, and I certainly appreciate the story of these women who served the Allies in WWI and who were pioneering women in the field of medicine (and don’t forget the support staff). I knew more about these same problems faced by women in WWII - not being treated equally, not being paid equally or given equal rank, not receiving veterans benefits, etc., and returning men replacing women, many of whom loved their jobs and needed to support themselves, too. So I am now aware how much history repeated itself regarding the treatment of women during wartime. But I found that the information was extremely repetitive. I think all the points could have been made, the remarkable achievements, how well the hospital was run, how it was staffed entirely by women, in half the time or less. The book needed a good editor to tell the author to consolidate or find another way to organize it so that we don’t have to keep hearing (or reading) the same points over and over. Though the narrator did a fine enough job, I would think that since the author is English (or I think so - she lives in London), the characters were primarily English and the events took place in England or in France, but under the auspices of the British, that the narrator would have been British. So now I found out that there is a British version of the book called Endell Street, narrated by a British narrator. I would have preferred that. I never get why two editions (with two narrations) of the same book are published. Two editions, I can get, because in print the spelling might be different. But two narrations? Anyway, if you want a British narrator, go for the British edition.

Disappointing to me

Having read Sarah Lyall's NYTimes review, I began this audiobook with great anticipation that was not fulfilled. How many times can the author state it was remarkable that these women ran hospitals in France and one of the best in the U.K. during WWI? Yes, I accept the importance of the accomplishment, that is why I am reading the book.

As a retired anesthesiologist I looked forward to details of clinical care or hospital organization, but this book seemed based on letters and diaries of participants. WWI was a slog, and I found this book to be the same.

Additionally, the large roster of women working at the hospital was tough for me to follow in the audio format. I'd have had an easier time reading about them.

Yes, the book mentions the horror of the arrival of many deaths from influenza just as the war wound down, but even in this account I found few interesting details.