Pritchard, Melissa

As she relays fascinating details about a pioneering nurse and statistician, Entwistle’s expressive narration delights. Pritchard’s insightful and affecting portrait of Nightingale would be at home in any library’s historical fiction section.

Pritchard will make you cry, think, and laugh; each essay is filled with wit and wisdom from writers old and new, informing Pritchard's own careful observations. A great read for writers, readers looking for enlightenment, and those who savor nonfiction that explores the spiritual through the everyday.

While there is undoubtedly a fascinating story to be told about Vernon Lee's life and work, Pritchard accomplishes a rather artless historical novel about writing a historical novel that doesn't live up to the promise of its premise.