Under the Cover of Mercy: A Novel

Summary

November, 1914.

The Great War has come to Brussels, the Germans have occupied the city, and Edith Cavell, Head Nurse at Berkendael Medical Institute, faces an impossible situation. As matron of a designated Red Cross hospital, Edith has sworn an oath to help any who are wounded, under whatever flag they are found. But Governor von Lüttwitz, the ranking German officer, has additional orders for her. She and her nurses must also stand guard over the wounded Allied prisoners of war and prevent them from escaping.

Edith feels that God called her to be a healer, not a jailer. How can she heal these broken boys, only to allow them to be returned to the hands of their oppressors to be beaten again?

So when members of the Belgian resistance, desperate for help, bring two wounded British soldiers to her hospital in secret, she makes a decision that will change everything: she will heal the soldiers, and then attempt to smuggle them out of the hospital to freedom.

With her loyal friend and fellow nurse, Elizabeth, by her side, Edith establishes her hospital as a safe house for the resistance, laboring tirelessly to save as many soldiers as she can. Working under the watchful eyes of the German army, Edith faces challenging odds and charges of treason—which carries the death penalty if she is caught—as she fights alongside the resistance to bring—and keep—hope to her small corner of a war-torn world.

Based on a true story, Under the Cover of Mercy is the remarkable account of one woman who defied an entire nation in order to heal those who needed her help the most.