Secret for a Nightingale [Hardcover]

Victoria Holt (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Fontana (1988)
• ISBN-10: 000617471X
• ISBN-13: 978-0006174714
• ASIN: B001KTWFR6
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romance and social reform, September 6, 2006

By 

Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret for a Nightingale (Mass Market Paperback)

This romance centers on the life of Susanna, the rather sheltered daughter of a widowed British colonel stationed in India. After her education in England Susanna returned to her father in India but soon found romance with the charming, wealthy heir to a country estate 'back home'. Soon after her marriage Susanna realized that her husband was addicted to drugs, and that a well known doctor and author was involved in his circle of drug taking friends. When Susanna can endure no more of this life she leaves her husband - a shocking action in Victorian society - and becomes involved with the equally shocking Florence Nightingale. Susanna's path leads her to Germany and then the Crimean War theater. Along the way she learns not only nursing but to question long held beliefs about her society and herself.

As is typical of Ms Holt's work romance abounds in exotic locations. Although the plot is rather formulistic and the mysteries quite transparent and the happy ending obvious from the beginning it is an entertaining way to spend a few hours.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of her best!, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret for a Nightingale (Mass Market Paperback)

Victoria Holt really captures you in this one. She keeps you hanging on till the end wondering whom the heroine will end up with in this one. It has great historical insite too, which is not a surprise to Victoria Holt fans. In this one the heroine follows Florence Nightingale to heal soldiers and try to improve hospital conditions. She finds herself falling in love with a doctor she suspects of killing her child and ruining her husband with drugs. It is wonderful and you have to read it if you like Victoria Holt at all.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a secret for a nightengale!, August 16, 2000

By 

MusicalDiva (Boston, Mass) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret for a Nightingale (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is my second favorite of Victoria Holt's, my first being "The Demon Lover". Her books are quality romance/mystery/history, which are hard to find these days. This book realistically portrays the struggle of a nurse durring WWI, not just with her nursing duties but with her immense personal struggles as well.