In Falling Snow

In the midst of World War I, as Iris Crane sets off to France to find and bring home her underage brother, who has enlisted with the British Army, she never counts on diverging to Royaumont Abbey, an all-female-staffed field hospital established by Scottish doctors, or on feeling that she could serve a greater purpose there. At Royaumont, Iris becomes a nurse and fierce administrator and the right hand to the head of the hospital. In her daily life, she experiences the realities of war as she offers comfort to dying soldiers and is protector to her brother. She soon senses that she might be better suited to life as a doctor than as a wife. In 1970s Australia, Iris's granddaughter Grace is a mother of three and a doctor who boldly stands up to her male counterparts, an embodiment of her grandmother's unrealized life. Grace views Iris as a frail old woman whom she must constantly fret over, but when Iris is invited to a reunion at Royaumont, Grace realizes how little she knows about her heritage.