The Forbidden Zone: A Nurse's Impressions of the First World War

by Mary Borden

Mary Borden worked for four years in an evacuation hospital unit following the front lines up and down the European theater of the First World War. This beautifully written book, to be read alongside the likes of Sassoon, Graves, and Remarque, is a collection of her memories and impressions of that experience. Describing the men as they march into battle, engaging imaginatively with the stories of individual soldiers, and recounting procedures at the field hospital, the author offers a perspective on the war that is both powerful and intimate.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War I, Poetry, Memoir, War, Nursing

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Mary Borden (1886–1968) was an early 20th-century, Anglo-American novelist.

Mary Borden was born into a wealthy Chicago family. She attended Vassar College, graduating with a B.A. in 1907. In 1908 she married George Douglas Turner, with whom she had three daughters; Joyce (born 1909), Comfort (born 1910) and Mary (born 1914). She was living in England in 1914 at the outbreak of the war and used her own money to equip and staff a field hospital close to the Front in which she herself served as a nurse from 1915 until the end of the war. It was there she met Brigadier General Edward Louis Spears, who became her second husband, in 1918, following the dissolution of her first marriage. Despite her considerable social commitments as the wife of a prominent diplomat, she continued a successful career as a writer. During her war-time experience she wrote poetry such as 'The Song of the Mud' (1917). Notably, her work includes a striking set of sketches and short stories, The Forbidden Zone (1929), which was published in the same year as A Farewell to Arms, Good-Bye to All That and All Quiet on the Western Front. Even in this context, contemporary readers were disturbed at the graphic, sometimes hallucinatory, quality of this work coming from a woman's pen.

Her 1937 novel Action for Slander was adapted into a film the same year.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sónia Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Borden (1886–1968) foi uma romancista e poeta anglo-americana cujo trabalho se baseou nas suas experiências como enfermeira em teatros de guerra. Criou, com o seu próprio dinheiro, uma unidade hospitalar na Frente Ocidental durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial, pela qual foi galardoada com a Croix de Guerre pelo Governo francês.

Livro incrível sobre a Primeira Guerra Mundial. São pequenos "fragmentos" escritos por uma enfermeira que viu muito e que quis imortalizar alguns destes homens, que apesar do sofrimento que sentiam, eram quase sempre extremamente educados na forma como abordavam quem cuidava deles: "A maioria deles eram camponeses. A França, dei-me conta era uma nação de camponeses. Mas como é que, mesmo na agonia, se exprimiam com tamanha elegância, tinham tão boas maneiras, escolhiam palavras tão agradáveis; e como é que, ali deitados à espera, hora após hora, a enfraquecerem cada vez mais, as suas vozes ténues, moribundas, pouco mais que sussurros, mantinham aquele tom elegante?"

Mary Borden escreve muitíssimo bem, conseguindo encontrar beleza no horrível, conseguindo descrever de forma quase poética o bombardeamento a uma vila adormecida. Só pela escrita percebe-se que era uma mulher muito serena, uma mulher necessária no meio do caos. Consegue descrever a dor, a vida e a morte magistralmente, quase como se fossem pessoas: "Tenho outros companheiros mais chegados do que estes. Três em particular: um monstro licencioso, um animal doente com maus fígados e um anjo; a Dor, a Vida e a Morte. Os primeiros são dados a conflitos. Brigam pelos feridos como cães por um osso. Rosnam e ladram e atormentam os homens que cá temos, mas a Dor é a mais forte. É a maior. É insaciável, gananciosa, perversamente amorosa, libidinosa, obscena - deseja os corpos lacerados que aqui temos. Onde quer que vá, deparo com ela a possuir os homens nas suas camas, deitada com eles; e a Vida, o animal doente, mia-lhe e gane-lhe, rosna-lhe e ladra-lhe, até que a Morte aparece - o Anjo, a pacificadora, a curandeira, pela qual esperamos, pela qual rezamos - chega silenciosamente, enxota a Dor e a terrível e rabugenta Vida, e deixa os homens em paz."

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

September 2025 reread

4 STARS

I'm raising my rating to four stars because there is just so much in this small book which I think it utterly impressive. The various stories / chapters interact with each other to paint a picture and to let the reader experience the war in some way. I think it is fascinating how Borden negotiates so many themes and topics in so few pages. I'm impressed with this. I still have my favorite stories - I think Belgium and Bombardment are amazing - but many others (The Square, The Rabbi and the Priest, The Beach) are amazing as well.

This is definitely worth a read. As is often the case, when we think about representatives for a certain period or genre, male voices often are dominant. I think this is a great alternative or addition to reading male WWI writers.


Original review (April 2025)

3.75 STARS

CW: war, gore, death, violence

I'm finally admitting to myself that I am in a big reading slump because this approx. 100-page book took me more than a week to read. I enjoyed it, I look forward to the class discussion we will have about it but it was laborious to get myself to pick it back up and finish it.

My favorite chapters or vignettes were "The Square", "Blind" and "The Priest and the Rabbi". Generally, I was really impressed with and surprised at the writing style and how much it takes you in. There were a lot of twinges in the writing that highlighted the bleak WWI atmosphere and reading it felt very close and incredibly far away at the same time.

I definitely wouldn't have picked this up without needing to read it for class but I liked it and I think it's a valuable perspective about the First World War that I'd not considered much before.

[Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish more people knew about this book. So many think about the Great War poets when they think of writing about the First World War, but Borden's memoir working as a nurse in France provides just as excellent first-hand account as the male poets do. Her use of fragmented language is inventive and foreshadows the work of the modernist writers of the early 1920s.

[Caroline]

Mary Borden was an exceptional woman. She used her own funds to set up a hospital in France during the First World War and worked as a nurse for the four years.

The Forbidden Zone, which was first published in 1929, is a collection of impressionistic pieces of fiction which vividly convey what it must have been like to work in the hospitals. She writes extremely well and you can see, hear and smell the wounded and the orderlies. It ranks with the best writing about the war that I've read.

I can't help feeling that if she'd been a man, then her work might not have been neglected but I am glad that Hesperus Press have brought it back into print.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

How grateful I was to read this — imagistic, revelatory, angry, intimate, necessary.

[Clay W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly poetic. The short stories don't always transition into one another smoothly, but they are all so thoroughly interesting.

Mary Borden writes beautifully on such a dark and morbid topic. I found myself at times losing track of the time as I rolled from one story to another. Conspiracy being an absolute favorite of the bunch.

A definite recommend for insight into the phenomenal musings of a WW1 nurse working in a field hospital.

[Yooperprof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Borden was an American woman (and heiress) from Chicago, married to a Briton and living in England, who volunteered to serve as a nurse in French hospitals on the Western Front.

This collection of "narratives" is a mixed bag. Some of the selections are full of "purple prose," overwritten, and reflecting a prose style which more austere authors of the 20th century discredited. Many 21st century readers will find these narratives unimpressive.

Other narratives - especially those in the "Somme" section of the book - are among the finest WWI writing I've read anywhere. I have been looking to find crisp, articulate, committed writing from medical personnel on the Western Front in WWI, and I've found it in "narratives" like "Moonlight" and "In the Operating Room" here in Borden's "Forbidden Zone."

[KJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather interesting book. They are recounting of the author when she served as a nurse during World War I. The stories she tells are depressing (I mean, it's about war and death, so yeah) but the imagery she uses is amazing. That made me continue to want to pick up the book to read more.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My body rattled and jerked like a machine out of order. I was awake now, and seemed to be breaking to pieces." (103)

I am planning to make this November an almost exclusively World War One non-fiction month. One of the things I wanted to do within that goal was to read more work by women writers. I first came across Mary Borden when I read a handful of her poems in "Poetry of the First World War: An Anthology" edited by Tim Kendall.

Mary Borden was the daughter of a wealthy Chicagoan who had married an Englishman, George Douglas Turner. Their marriage, it seems, was not a happy one. Borden started writing and mixed in London literary circles. When World War One broke out she volunteered to serve with the French Red Cross. After a stint at a hospital in Dunkirk she persuaded the French to allow her to set-up and fund her own field hospital. She served throughout the war.

This book is her memoir of that time, although it isn't a conventional piece of writing. It is made of short memories that don't really link together. They are stories of individuals or incidents. Her writing is incredibly vivid. It isn't always brilliant, but it is never bad. There are moments though when it absolutely soars.

"For companions there are, of course, the surgeons and the nurses and the old grizzled orderlies, but I have other companions. Three in particular: a lascivious monster, a sick bad-tempered and an Angel; Pain, Life and Death." (40)

She writes with an emotional honesty that is to be applauded. This book wasn't published until 1929 (which was the peak period of memoir and fiction from WW1) as enough time had passed for something as raw as this to be published. She doesn't soften what happens. Indeed, sometimes you almost wish she would.

There is one story, Beach, which seems to be almost entirely fictional. Indeed, it isn't too far from D. H. Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in terms of its subject matter. But more of a brief insight into an issue that must have occurred often post-WW1: how a relationship is effected by the severe wounding of a man. The question of who owes what to whom. That's an odd one out. The rest seem to be hooked into her own experiences and life.

The stories that hit home most for me were The Regiment, Moonlight, Enfant de Malheur: A Story; Blind: A Story and The Two Gunners: A Story. These in particular manage to bring to life the world she was operating in. Sometimes they read more like horror stories than memoir. This would make a fantastic radio series.

Enfant de Malheur: A Story is the highlight. It had a real emotional punch. The subject matter seems so simple to begin with but there is a spiritual element to it that drags you deeper and deeper into the story and the ending is superb. I cried.

The Two Gunners: A Story features the only English soldiers in the whole collection. Borden's patients were almost all French poilus. It's an interesting insight into a cultural difference:

"I was so accustomed to this elegance of mind among my poilus that I no longer noticed it. I took it for granted. I did not think about it until the two British Gunners came in. Then I suddenly realised that there are two types of courage, the British and the French, as there are two types of men." (110)

Why this book isn't better known I don't know. The easiest thing would be to say that it is a woman writing about war, which is a man's job. But I think there's more to it than that. After all Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain is an incredibly well-known book. So well know that it has been made into a TV series and a film. But I don't recall seeing anything like this about Mary Borden. There might be a little shadow cast by the scandalous nature of her private life - which I won't dwell on here. But that was a long time ago. I think though that because the book is structured it is difficult to adapt for film or television and there's also a literary element to it where it feels more fictional than factual?

I don't think that. Some of this book, even allowing for the style, feels more honest and 'real' than a lot of other memoirs I've read about World War One.

I really recommend it. And if you teach World War One this is a book that might be worth adding to your class alongside the better known books.

[Menno Beek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het boek werd afgeserveerd, schreef de vertaler, omdat men het literair niet zo sterk zei te vinden, terwijl het eigenlijk doodgezwegen wwerd omdat een vrouw het schreef. Of dat waar is weet ik niet, maar wat niet helpt is dat de sterkste stukken van dit boek niet aan het begin staan. Daar wordt inderdaad nogal rommelig en met eigenaardig gedoseerde emotie en met een wat ongerichte naratieve insteek over de eerste wereldoorlog geschreven.

Maar dan, voor wie door het eerste kwart heen is, komen er een paar helemaal geniale verhalen: 'De rabbi en de priester', 'Roda'en vooral ook 'Enfant de Malheur': ik zou de uitgever willen aanraden die drie verhalen, en misschien nog twee andere, in een beperktere uitgave op te nemen, dan heb je een meesterwerk. Of zet ze elk geval voorin.

Want die verhalen zijn bruut en lief en tonen de eerste wereldoorlog zxoals alleen iemand die er heel dichtbij was en die ook nog goed kan schrijven ze kan vastleggen. Onvergetelijke indrukken van deze rijke dame die haar geld uitgaf aan een veldhospitaal waar ze zelf in ging werken. Een held. En de arme hoofdpersonen van haar verhalen, die ze haast ondragelijk dichtbij weet te halen, ik hoop dat er een heleboel licht aan het eind van hun tunnel zat.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Borden is an exceptional writer with great perception and a keen eye for detail. This little book says more about the horrors of war than anything else I've read. She set up a field hospital behind the French lines and nursed hundreds of men, as well as being forced to make decisions for the surgeons as to which soldiers to treat first and whose injuries were going to prove fatal. Mary and her medical team worked relentlessly to patch these men up only for them to be sent straight back to the trenches to fight. Few made it back to Blighty and for the ones that did, their lives were ruined. They were both physically and mentally scarred for life. The account which touched me most was of the soldier who'd shot himself in the mouth, because he couldn't face the prospect of going over the top again. He survived. Once the surgeons had seen to his injuries, he was to be court-marshalled and shot by his own men. What was the point in saving him? What was the point of the war? This certainly isn't an easy read, with graphic descriptions of injuries and the grim reality of life in the trenches, but it gives an interesting insight into the life of a nurse during that time.

[Margaret Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are several books that give you a deeply personal insight into life during WWI but in my estimation, none are as vivid and arresting as Mary Borden's "The Forbidden Zone". Borden was an heiress from Chicago, married to a missionary. In 1914 she volunteered at an underfunded, beauraucratically hampered hospital in Dunkirk for soldiers with TB. Appalled at the conditions under which fighting men were treated, she offered to open and run a hospital in France for the French army. This book, written in snatches of time between shifts is a literary jewel in its stark portrayals of the geographical, military, medical, and emotional aspects of life on the back end of the front lines of WWI. Reading this book in this century provides us a clear vision of the gut-wrenching business of being absorbed in the machinery of the 'great war', both as a nurse and a wounded soldier. It's a lot of similes and metaphors and poetic imagery along with plain speaking about what it meant to be a soldier in those times.

[Victoria O · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both were interesting and sad. Neither was an easy read but the format of short stories helped, vignettes of the wards of WWI medical tents, the horrors and the humanity of the patients told in a matter of fact way that made clear the writers had to, to a degree, turn off their emotions. A peek at what was certainly a difficult place and time. Having seen an article about it in WaPo, I checked my library catalog. The only copy they had was a hard cover anthology which included "Backwash of War" by Lamotte, published as "Nurses at the front : writing the wounds of the Great War". It had been donated by the Library Assoc in 2001 and I could tell I was the first person to read it. Sad. It deserves to be more widely read.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Borden is incredible. Borden was a British nurse writing about her near war experience specifically at the Battle of the Somme. Her account highlights the fact that women were the unsung heroes of both World Wars, and this poetic account of Borden's experiences in "The Forbidden Zone" give a new perspective of war that is left untouched by famous poets like Sassoon, Graves, Owen, etc.

Written in short bursts of prose and concluding with five poems, Borden only gives the reader access to what she wants them to know. She uses specific names sparingly, and this mixed with the constant spatial disorientation closely mimics what Borden must have felt in the field hospital.

Beautifully written and poetic at every turn, I will absolutely be looking back to this book in the future!

[Helen Meads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this because it’s source material for Katherine Arden/The Warm Hands of Ghosts. Mary Borden is a character in Arden’s books, but she was a real person.

This book is absolutely extraordinary. I have never read anything like it. I know I shall want to read it again.

It’s fragmentary, which makes it powerful. The experiences and the incidents and the men
Borden are in prose, but they feel like poetry. So utterly moving.

One word of caution: don’t buy this book in this cover, it’s an edition printed by Amazon (I didn’t buy it from Amazon) and the pages are bound on the wrong spread: those which should be on the right are on the left. It’s very disconcerting. I’ve sent for a different edition.

[Paulo Faria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Borden foi uma das raras vozes femininas a escreverem sobre a experiência traumática da Grande Guerra, vivida em primeira mão. O modo como ela aborda o tema é magistral, dando resposta às grandes questões que cruzam toda a literatura de guerra: como transmitir por palavras o horror de uma experiência que é, antes de mais, sensorial? Como evitar que as palavras que usamos para descrever o horror banalizem, entorpeçam ou dêem um verniz estetizante a essa experiência? Como evitar o didactismo ou o tom moralista? Como trazer o leitor para dentro da guerra? Mary Borden é uma escritora quase esquecida, que merece ser lida e relida.

[lucy snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book got progressively better as i began to appreciate borden's writing style. the poetic windows into her experience in wartime hospitals and at the somme were brilliant. the tales of specific patients, like the blind man, were my favourite.

i love how borden explores the dehumanising nature of medicine, the surgeons referring to the wounded men as simply "legs" or "heads". the story 'conspiracy' does this best.

im excited to explore this more !

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible little book by a Chicago heiress who became a nurse who served close to the front line (forbidden zone) in the French sector of the Great War. Beautifully written in an intimate, deeply reflective style about the almost surreal horrors she had to face as she cared for her “old men”. The chapter “Enfant de Malheur”is particularly striking, describing the peculiarly human struggle of passing from life to death and eternity.

[Hector Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I'd read that provided a perspective on WW1 from someone other than soldiers and pilots. It was touching and beautifully written. Mary Borden was an extraordinary woman and a gifted writer.

[Mollie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An uncensored, beautifully written account of the First World War. Absolutely amazing.

[Maud Van Keulen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the horriffing truth about the war that everone should read

[MaryEllen Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly beautiful writing about her impressions in a most terrible time of war.

[Book Collector Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute must-read for anyone interested in WW1. Borden is an exceptional writer.

[Christine Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have preferred a straightforward account..which I thought it was going to be...rather than a series of essays some of which tried to be too clever with the writing style

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Dr. Carter's American Literature 1880-1960.

[Mike Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

so sensitive it takes your breath away- lovely to see a female perspective of WW1

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hidden gem of WWI literature, full of heart-jerking snapshots that will certainly stay with you.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a class I'm taking on women writers of WWI. Well written. Excellent presentation by instructor on WWI and Mary Borden. Interesting discussion of book. Content depressing.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - Fascinating text and beautifully written.

[Susan Arra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written stories of a terrible war.