What do you think?
Rate this book
Nightingales #10
A Nightingale Christmas Promise
For the first time, a Nightingale nurses novel set during the First World War. Follow the senior staff as they overcome the trials of their training years. From Sunday Times top ten bestselling author, Donna Douglas.East London, 1914: Britain is preparing for war. As young men queue up across the country to enlist, the Nightingale Hospital has its own set of new recruits…Anna has had a happy upbringing in her parent’s bakery in Bethnal Green. But as war descends her family’s German roots will wrench them apart in ways Anna never could have imagined. Kate dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a doctor. With female doctors virtually unheard of, it will take courage to face off the prejudice around her. Sadie joins the Nightingale Hospital for a new life away from her mother’s interference. But the legacy of her family may not be so easy to escape…As the shadow of war descends, will the promise of Christmas help to bring the students together?
443 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2018
133 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Donna Douglas
35 books256 followersWelcome to my Goodreads page.
I'm the author of the Nightingale novels, a series of stories set in an East End hospital in the 1930s, published by Arrow.
The first in the series, The Nightingale Girls, follows the lives of three girls from very different backgrounds as they join the Nightingale Hospital as students. The second, The Nightingale Sisters, will be published next spring.
I'm originally from London, but I now live in the beautiful city of York.
I'm the author of the Nightingale novels, a series of stories set in an East End hospital in the 1930s, published by Arrow.
The first in the series, The Nightingale Girls, follows the lives of three girls from very different backgrounds as they join the Nightingale Hospital as students. The second, The Nightingale Sisters, will be published next spring.
I'm originally from London, but I now live in the beautiful city of York.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
November 24, 2025
Ein Buch, das ich kaum aus der Hand legen konnte!
Wir sind in London im Jahr 1914. Anna beginnt ihre Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester. Die Ausbildung ist hart, doch bald schon muss Anna noch Schlimmeres durchmachen.
Auch Sadie beginnt ihre Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester, und Kate möchte Ärztin werden. Ihr werden als Frau viele Steine in den Weg gelegt...
❤️ Ich fand die Geschichten der Frauen sehr fesselnd und berührend. Ich habe mit ihnen fühlen können und kann es kaum erwarten, den nächsten Band zu lesen! ❤️
Wir sind in London im Jahr 1914. Anna beginnt ihre Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester. Die Ausbildung ist hart, doch bald schon muss Anna noch Schlimmeres durchmachen.
Auch Sadie beginnt ihre Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester, und Kate möchte Ärztin werden. Ihr werden als Frau viele Steine in den Weg gelegt...
❤️ Ich fand die Geschichten der Frauen sehr fesselnd und berührend. Ich habe mit ihnen fühlen können und kann es kaum erwarten, den nächsten Band zu lesen! ❤️
December 22, 2021
Es war wieder genauso mitreißend, wie die ersten Teile.
January 6, 2019
I have enjoyed this series from the very first book. It started in the thirties and tells the stories of the girls who work as nurses in the Nightingale Hospital. As well as telling us what medical procedures were like and what the girls had to endure to become nurses we also see what kind of lives the girls lived outside of the hospital. The books continue on into the war years.
For this book the author goes back to just before the beginning of the First World War and on into 1915 and to me she has surpassed herself this time. It's a brilliant story. There seems to be more of the girls lives this time but the Nightingale is still there in all it's glory.
In tells how the loftiest people can treat their offspring like commodities and the lowliest of them have a love and loyalty that's hard to beat. It shows the struggle women had to become doctors and to be taken serious about it how, when war broke out, people turned on their German neighbours who they had known and called friends and made them feel ostracised in their own communities.
If you're a fan of Donna Douglas you'll already have this, if not, I recommend highly that you give it a go. I hope there's a follow on book as I'd like to know the culmination of some of the girl's stories.
For this book the author goes back to just before the beginning of the First World War and on into 1915 and to me she has surpassed herself this time. It's a brilliant story. There seems to be more of the girls lives this time but the Nightingale is still there in all it's glory.
In tells how the loftiest people can treat their offspring like commodities and the lowliest of them have a love and loyalty that's hard to beat. It shows the struggle women had to become doctors and to be taken serious about it how, when war broke out, people turned on their German neighbours who they had known and called friends and made them feel ostracised in their own communities.
If you're a fan of Donna Douglas you'll already have this, if not, I recommend highly that you give it a go. I hope there's a follow on book as I'd like to know the culmination of some of the girl's stories.
October 28, 2018
I have loved this series and this book certainly didn't disappoint me at all simply brilliant from the first page with great characters and story plot just has you hooked straight away.
The country is preparing for war and nightingale hospital has some new recruits and with Christmas time coming will the girls pull together and be friends. You have Anna who's family own a bakery her father is German and as she gets engaged she says she wants to be a nurse and she goes to the nightingale hospital and her family are pulled apart in ways they couldn't expect it to will they survive together or not. Then you have Kate who wants to follow in her fathers footsteps and come a doctor but because she is female can she won the men over and when her brother makes a mistake will she get the blame or her brother and can they be happy as a family. Then you have Sadie who starts a new life away from her mother but will it be easy to escape her mothers legacy or not and can the girls all be friends and work together.
Worth far more than five stars.
The country is preparing for war and nightingale hospital has some new recruits and with Christmas time coming will the girls pull together and be friends. You have Anna who's family own a bakery her father is German and as she gets engaged she says she wants to be a nurse and she goes to the nightingale hospital and her family are pulled apart in ways they couldn't expect it to will they survive together or not. Then you have Kate who wants to follow in her fathers footsteps and come a doctor but because she is female can she won the men over and when her brother makes a mistake will she get the blame or her brother and can they be happy as a family. Then you have Sadie who starts a new life away from her mother but will it be easy to escape her mothers legacy or not and can the girls all be friends and work together.
Worth far more than five stars.
December 27, 2020
Enjoyed this book about different characters. Hope they continue with these characters.
October 8, 2018
As a lover of Donna Douglas books i was excited to read her one and i wasn't disappointed.It was lovely to read about the early years at the Nightingale Hospital about how the staff coped with soldiers being brought home injured during the first world war.It was also nice to read about young nurse's starting out who we have come to know through the Nightingale series.It was also refreshing to have a female medical student and her fight to be accepted,times are hard for all but they all work hard.If you have read the Nightingale books you will love this i can highly recommend it and worthy of 5*
February 23, 2019
I love this series of books. The first 9 books were about the training of nurses at the Nightengale hospital in the east end of London in the 1930's and 1940's. This book harks back to World War I.
This is a very engaging series following the lives of nursing students and doctors at the most prestigious hospital in London---the Nightengale. The story can get a little saccharine at times, but there are definitely some hard subjects that are being touched.
This is a great insight into the poorer section of London and how all Londeners fared up to and including both World Wars.
This is a very engaging series following the lives of nursing students and doctors at the most prestigious hospital in London---the Nightengale. The story can get a little saccharine at times, but there are definitely some hard subjects that are being touched.
This is a great insight into the poorer section of London and how all Londeners fared up to and including both World Wars.
October 6, 2018
Lovely
Another Nightingale bock and another success. I love this series, and have read all of them. More please Miss Douglas.
Another Nightingale bock and another success. I love this series, and have read all of them. More please Miss Douglas.
October 7, 2022
Die ersten 9 Bände und die Figuren habe ich geliebt und deshalb hatte ich zunächst große Zweifel, ob ich Band 10 und 11 überhaupt lesen soll, da ich ja wusste, dass meine geliebten Figuren nicht mehr vorkommen. Und was soll ich sagen? Eventuell liebe ich diese Figuren noch ein wenig mehr 🤷♀️ Ich weiß es noch nicht. Tatsache ist jedoch, dass mich das Buch aus verschiedenen sehr bewegt hat und für mich den anderen Bänden um nichts nachsteht ❤️
December 21, 2024
I love Donna's books. New characters, an earlier period with WWI but can't wait to read more as their journey's begin
January 5, 2020
Cracker of a story excuse the pun. Thoroughly enjoyed this heart wrenching story set during World War 1. So many young lives lost, so much heartache and such courage. May these wars never be repeated.
September 24, 2021
East London, 1914: Britain is preparing for war. As young men queue up across the country to enlist, the Nightingale Hospital has its own set of new recruits…
Anna has had a happy upbringing in her parent’s bakery in Bethnal Green. But as war descends her family’s German roots will wrench them apart in ways Anna never could have imagined.
Kate dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a doctor. With female doctors virtually unheard of, it will take courage to face off the prejudice around her.
Sadie joins the Nightingale Hospital for a new life away from her mother’s interference. But the legacy of her family may not be so easy to escape…
As the shadow of war descends, will the promise of Christmas help to bring the students together?
The British government was initially reluctant to impose widespread internment in the United Kingdom during the First World War, choosing instead to restrict the activities of nationals of enemy nations residing in the UK and interning only those suspected of being a threat to national security. Public anti-German sentiment peaked with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915, and the subsequent rioting forced the government to implement a general program of internment.In 1914, there were up to 75,000 nationals of enemy states residing in the UK, and on the outbreak of the First World War there was concern that this community would engage in acts of espionage and sabotage.There were still restrictions on where women could study medicine as they were admitted to only a small number of medical schools. From 1915, some London hospitals began to train women.Various bars on women studying medicine continued until 1944.Apart from all the military nurses in FANY, QAIMNS etc., there were thousands of women working as midwives or nurses in civilian life, but they had little or no experience of working with soldier patients and their status in society was little better than that of domestic servants.But nurses took pride in helping to save lives.
Anna has had a happy upbringing in her parent’s bakery in Bethnal Green. But as war descends her family’s German roots will wrench them apart in ways Anna never could have imagined.
Kate dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a doctor. With female doctors virtually unheard of, it will take courage to face off the prejudice around her.
Sadie joins the Nightingale Hospital for a new life away from her mother’s interference. But the legacy of her family may not be so easy to escape…
As the shadow of war descends, will the promise of Christmas help to bring the students together?
The British government was initially reluctant to impose widespread internment in the United Kingdom during the First World War, choosing instead to restrict the activities of nationals of enemy nations residing in the UK and interning only those suspected of being a threat to national security. Public anti-German sentiment peaked with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915, and the subsequent rioting forced the government to implement a general program of internment.In 1914, there were up to 75,000 nationals of enemy states residing in the UK, and on the outbreak of the First World War there was concern that this community would engage in acts of espionage and sabotage.There were still restrictions on where women could study medicine as they were admitted to only a small number of medical schools. From 1915, some London hospitals began to train women.Various bars on women studying medicine continued until 1944.Apart from all the military nurses in FANY, QAIMNS etc., there were thousands of women working as midwives or nurses in civilian life, but they had little or no experience of working with soldier patients and their status in society was little better than that of domestic servants.But nurses took pride in helping to save lives.
January 31, 2019
Although it has a similar title, this is really a new series. Still set in the Nightingale Hospital, instead of the 30's and 40's we go back in time to World War I and meet a new set of characters while seeing a few familiar faces, like Hanley from the original series only of course she's much younger. As always the book follows the lives of three students, although in a bit of a twist only two are nursing students and one is a medical student. The story begins Christmas Eve with Anna, daughter of a German father and English mother. She is working in the family's bakery along side her younger sister Liesel andvsweetheart Edward. On that day Anna and Edward become engaged and Anna believes her life will always remain perfect. Sadie comes from a rougher background, her mother is often in jail for prostitution among other things. She wants to leave that life behind and start fresh. Kate comes from a long line of doctors and longs for her father's approval, but as his daughter he wishes she would stay away from medicine. As the war begins these young women are thrown into the thick of things. From dealing with brutal war injuries to broken hearts, to dealing with the effects of what we now call PTSD, at the hospital to dramas at home, such as abusive partners, fear and xenophobia against anything German sounding, betrayals, mistakes that could ruin careers and heart breaking tragedies, these young women prove they are up to any challenge. This is a promising start to a new Nightingale chapter and I can't wait to see what happens next.
February 25, 2021
Historische Romane mit medizinischem Hintergrund interessieren mich einfach. Und nach sehr vielen Büchern mit schweren, teilweise extrem deprimierenden Themen habe ich einfach mal wieder ein Wohlfühlbuch benötigt. Es klingt eigentlich makaber, dass es ein Buch ist, das im ersten Weltkrieg spielt und die Schattenseiten auch nicht wirklich versteckt (die Kriegsversehrten, die ins Nightingale eingeliefert werden und durchaus nicht alle überleben, die Verzweiflung, die einen Menschen bis hin zur Selbstverletzung führt, der Umgang mit Menschen, die eine andere, feindliche Nationalität haben, sowohl von staatlicher Ebene aus als auch im Privatleben).
Aber trotz allem klingt für mich in der Reihe so viel Hoffnung mit, dass ein Nightingale-Buch zwischendurch die Stimmung immer wieder hebt.
Aber trotz allem klingt für mich in der Reihe so viel Hoffnung mit, dass ein Nightingale-Buch zwischendurch die Stimmung immer wieder hebt.
December 21, 2022
It is 1914 and there are some new faces at the Nightingale.
Anna is half German and when her father's roots are discovered her family is torn asunder.
Kate is a feisty woman who believes she should follow in her male family members footsteps and become a doctor although at this point her sex precludes it.
Sadie wants a better life away from her mother and her seedy, dockside life but ultimately it's not always that easy to evade your background when it comes calling.
I love every character this author throws at these books, I just can't wait for the next one as they are by now old friends.
Anna is half German and when her father's roots are discovered her family is torn asunder.
Kate is a feisty woman who believes she should follow in her male family members footsteps and become a doctor although at this point her sex precludes it.
Sadie wants a better life away from her mother and her seedy, dockside life but ultimately it's not always that easy to evade your background when it comes calling.
I love every character this author throws at these books, I just can't wait for the next one as they are by now old friends.
April 11, 2019
I loved this book and thought it had ended with many places needing to be tied up, but I notice that there is to be another book in October 2019, of which I am delighted. The narrator brings the story to life and one forgets that she is female as the male characters are well presented. I highly recommend this book and one doesn't need to have read any of the other books in the Nightingale series as this is set during the first world war. I was sorry when the book finished
October 23, 2020
Another BRILLIANT read by Donna! Stories that just have you hooked. Really struggled to put this book down, in fact I read the whole book in 2 evenings. And that says a lot as I don’t usually have a lot of time to read!
It’s also not tooooo Christmassy, so can be read all year round (I was delaying reading it until Christmas time, but caved as I needed a good book and was pleasantly surprised)
Can’t wait to read the sequel!
It’s also not tooooo Christmassy, so can be read all year round (I was delaying reading it until Christmas time, but caved as I needed a good book and was pleasantly surprised)
Can’t wait to read the sequel!
November 10, 2018
Another excellent book from Donna Douglas
Beautifully written you're almost there and can imagine every scene and story of each character making cry one minute and laugh the next. I would recommend this book i had trouble putting it down it only took me a couple of nights to read. The only down side is i have to wait for Donna to write and release a new book!!
Beautifully written you're almost there and can imagine every scene and story of each character making cry one minute and laugh the next. I would recommend this book i had trouble putting it down it only took me a couple of nights to read. The only down side is i have to wait for Donna to write and release a new book!!
December 15, 2019
This wonderful series gets better and better with each new book! Much love for the fantastic 'Nightingale' hospital and it's loving, tough, gritty, kind, hard-working, resilient and caring staff! I am looking forward to the newest book that just came out...and would excitedly read more, if Donna Douglas continues to write them.👩⚕️❤👨⚕️
February 3, 2024
This read was an interesting read for 1914 England. I always enjoy comparing healthcare 100 years ago to today. Also it was an interesting tale of discrimination experienced by those of German decent during that time and of women persuing a medical degree in that time period. I would recommend this read and would read it again.
October 23, 2018
Very enjoyable
Would have liked a better ending but the story was very good. Hopefully the next book will carry on and we will find out what happens to the other characters (please)
Would have liked a better ending but the story was very good. Hopefully the next book will carry on and we will find out what happens to the other characters (please)
December 1, 2018
Another fab read totally love these books and was great to meet some new characters and now can't wait to see what happens to them all. A few cliff hangers near the end so must be another book and hopefully not too long.
October 8, 2019
Sadie
This is ww1 and the nightingale hospital newest intake this is more like Sadies story and what a great book it is some familiar faces but some new faces as well well worth a read 5 STARS.
This is ww1 and the nightingale hospital newest intake this is more like Sadies story and what a great book it is some familiar faces but some new faces as well well worth a read 5 STARS.
November 26, 2019
I loved the previous nightingale books and this book does not disappoint
Set at the start of WW1 the story follows some of the characters that were in the previous books but at the start of there careers at the nightingale
Well worth a read if you enjoyed the previous books
Set at the start of WW1 the story follows some of the characters that were in the previous books but at the start of there careers at the nightingale
Well worth a read if you enjoyed the previous books
December 18, 2019
I enjoyed this book until I got to the end. It ended so abruptly, I thought perhaps my digital copy was defective and part of it was missing. Maybe they should have printed “The End” so I would know for sure.
June 8, 2020
This incredible series continues. Set in WW1 with war raging and ant German sentiment high, the trainee nurses find themselves stretched in more ways than one. And a brilliant young trainee doctor must fight her family and the system to find her way in the hospital.
Fantastic reading!
Fantastic reading!
February 2, 2022
It took a little while to get going but when it did it was a roller coaster ride about how certain people were treated leading up to & during the Great War, also the horrors that ordinary people had to face in life .
November 10, 2022
3.5
For me as this is set before the main series I found it harder to get into and less interested. However once I got to know the characters and saw some that were in the rest of the series I did enjoy it more. The writing is great and the author does create great storylines.
For me as this is set before the main series I found it harder to get into and less interested. However once I got to know the characters and saw some that were in the rest of the series I did enjoy it more. The writing is great and the author does create great storylines.
December 14, 2025
1914 and the outbreak of the First World War sees student nurses start their training at the Nightingale. Along with a female trainee doctor, a rare and audacious thing in those days. Set in the East End of London this is a page turner as one would expect from Donna Douglas!
October 19, 2018
Based on WW1 this time, the story still delivers with good characters and plots. I could definitely see another book set in this period.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews