A Cape Eye On Books: This Month’s Featured Author, Terri Arthur

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Even in a short conversation about writing with Falmouth author Terri Arthur, her perseverance and curiosity are readily apparent, qualities that served her well in the long road to publication of her first novel, FATAL DECISION: Edith Cavell World War I Nurse.

That journey began when Arthur, a nurse by profession, found a collection of vintage postcards and became haunted by the images which were not the romantic renderings one might expect of nurses tenderly tending to soldiers in their care but graphic images of the horrors of war. She learned a bit of the story of Edith Cavell and was surprised she had not known of this British nurse who has been called The Other Nightingale, an honored war hero who created Belgium’s first school of nursing. As she researched her subject, she discovered that none of the books written about Cavell had been done by a nurse. As she says, “As a nurse myself I thought I could throw fresh light on the life and career of this extraordinary woman.”

She visited Belgium and the United Kingdom, spent two years researching and subsequently wrote an article about Cavell which was published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing in February 2006. There was a surge of reader interest and encouraged by this, she began a novel.

A small publisher signed on but Arthur’s elation quickly dimmed in what became one of the horrors of publishing we sometimes hear about. Threatening legal action, she was able to regain control of her book and found another publisher in the mid-west, one she says was a dream to work with. Now published in both the UK and the States, the book has garnered awards.

Arthur is now working on two new projects about Cavell, a screenplay and a children’s book for ages 8 – 10.

Asked what books she likes to recommend, Arthur offers the following five.

TO THE LAST MAN by New York Time’s best-selling author Jeff Shaara. “It is a book I couldn’t put down and is told from the perspective of historical figures.”

NOT MY FATHER’S SON by Alan Cummings is a haunting memoir by the esteemed British actor. “He is one of my favorite actors and this is a coming of age story of his complicated relationship with his father.”

THE NIGHTINGALE by Sophie Hannah, a best-selling novel set during World War II. “Truly enjoyable and well-written with good characters.”

THE TRIBE OF TIGER, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, the author of the best-selling THE HIDDEN LIFE OF DOGS. “Her book gave me a whole new understanding of the behavior of cats,” Arthur says.

NATURE’S AMBASSATOR: The Legacy of Thornton W. Burgess by Cape writer Christie Lowrance. “It’s a carefully researched book that is rich in detail about the lives and times of the naturalist, environmentalist and children’s writer,” says Arthur.

In July we’ll be talking with Nantucket author Nancy Thayer and take a trip to the Island to visit Mitchell’s Book Corner, our Featured Book Store.

In the meantime, what are you reading? What do you recommend to friends?

Please join the conversation.

Anne LeClaire is the best-selling author of eight novels, the latest of which is “The Lavender Hour.”

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