Green Darner Press to Release WWI Nurse's Trauma Memoir

By: Christina Mancuso Aug. 07, 2015

Kari Hock, Managing Editor of Seattle's Green Darner Press, has announced plans to release Gail Noble-Sanderson's "The Lavender House in Meuse" in October of this year. The novel charts the post-war course of healing taken by a young nurse traumatized by her tragic experiences at the Front during World War I.

"This book will fill an important niche often overlooked in fiction and non-fiction: how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affected nurses in our First World War," said Hock. "Military nurses still suffer this syndrome, making the topic more relevant than ever."

"Freedom seldom takes us where we thought we were going."
-The Lavender House in Meuse

Set in France, "The Lavender House in Meuse" traces the journey of Marie Durant Chagall from girlhood to adulthood; from her comfortable home in Marseille with her father and sister to the Front where she pursues her need for independence and service as a young woman; and finally to an inherited, rather isolated, country home by the Meuse River (surrounded by soothing lavender fields) where she seeks to heal, through solitude and nature, from trauma suffered in a bomb attack on her medical facility at The Front. She is not alone for long and soon finds herself caring for recovering soldiers in her new home while trying to process their pain and her own in this post-war setting.

Although the novel will be categorized as "Historical Fiction," Noble-Sanderson has reason to believe the events actually happened, and the characters portrayed once lived. During a recent interview with book news blogger Marlan Warren (Roadmap Girl's Book Buzz), Noble-Sanderson stated: "I believe all the characters, settings, dialogue and details are memories."

Noble-Sanderson went on to explain that she can be in the middle of traffic, watering her garden, doing laundry or fishing on a lake, and "I will remember events, clearly 'hear' dialogue, and see the setting vividly in my mind."

The Seattle-based author added: "I take advantage of those times when the flow of the story-the memories-are most vivid. Then I edit and hone the writing."

When asked if she intended the story to be "anti-war," Noble-Sanderson replied that acts of wartime atrocities always result in "wounds and deaths of many sorts, and scars that continue to fester and alter the character of our lives in countless ways."

"Ultimately I hope readers will come away with an expanded understanding of what life was like for nurses in World War I," said Noble-Sanderson. "And what the trauma of war can do to an individual, and to a nation, both culturally and emotionally."

For more info and the full interview: http://roadmapgirlsbookbuzz.blogspot.com

Sanderson-Noble will present and sign "The Lavender House in Meuse" at Village Books in Bellingham, Wash. in early November. An October launch event is also being planned at a location to be announced.

Title: The Lavender House in Meuse
Author: Gail Noble-Sanderson
Publisher: Green Darner Press
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: October 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9864390-2-5

Author Event Info:
Village Books
1200 11th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Tel: 360.671.2626
800.392.BOOK
www.villagebooks.com

Green Darner Press
9600 Stone Avenue North
Seattle, Washington 98103
www.greendarnerpress.com

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