In the Shadow of the Lamp by Susanne Dunlap

Dunlap, Susanne In the Shadow of the Lamp, 352 p. Bloomsbury, April 2011.  Petty jealousy has gotten Molly fired from her good job as a maid in London of 1854.  Desperate for work, she lies about her age and her experience and gets herself all the way to Paris, where she convinces Florence Nightingale to take her with her to the battlefields of the Crimean War – just after the disastrous ”Charge of the Light Brigade”.  There Molly will learn about the greater world, of love, and of the current state of doctoring and care for battle-wounded.  Dunlap includes an Author’s Note of where she took liberties in character and fact.  This is a subject and time that has been unrepresented in YA fiction – for that alone it is very welcome.  Big, active libraries will appreciate the addition to their historical fiction collection.  MS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher