Edith Cavell
Helen Fry

It is well known that during World War One, British nurse Edith Cavell and her nurses were helping British and French soldiers to escape Belgium for neutral Holland. But Cavell was shot at dawn on 12 October 1915 by the Germans on charges of espionage. Is there any truth in these claims? Helen uncovers new material that sheds light on Cavell’s greater legacy and one that uncovers the espionage side of her heroic work. Who really betrayed her?

Cavell lived her life with a strong sense of duty to her country. Amongst her final words before being executed, Cavell said ‘Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone’. These words are engraved on the impressive memorial to her near Trafalgar Square in London. The book provides a new, fuller biography of Cavell that shows how, alongside an already successful career as director of a nursing school in Brussels, she was running a clandestine network in Brussels. This new biography will place on record the reality behind a life sacrificed for her country and for freedom; and settle the more than 100-year-old debate of whether or not she was a spy. She was portrayed for decades in almost saintly terms, and this image escalated in the public domain, including in religious circles and in newspapers, with the result that it has obscured the true woman. This biography places a new dimension on her life and one that rightly deserves to be told.