Author Description

Dear Miss Nightingale collects for the first time in a single volume the correspondence between Florence Nightingale and Benjamin Jowett, most never before published. Upon returning from the Crimean War as "the mother of the British Army" with broken health but not a broken spirit, Florence Nightingale became a recluse, continuing her campaign on behalf of soldiers and promoting the value of public health from behind closed doors. Jowett, already a prominent figure in Oxford's Balliol College, attended to her needs, visited her many homes, and, most importantly, wrote to her frequently, offering constant encouragement and keeping her in touch with the trends of the times and the social movements of London drawing rooms. More than a sensitive testament of the enduring friendship between two eminent Victorians, these letters offer insight into the subtleties of the social life of the period.