Nightingale

By: Laura Elvery

Narrated by: Charlotte Strevens, Christopher Bonwell

Mayfair, 1910. At the age of 90, Florence Nightingale is frail and no longer of sound mind. After a celebrated career as a nurse, writer and statistician, she now leads a reclusive existence. One summer evening she is astonished to receive a visitor – a young man named Silas Bradley, who claims to have met her during the Crimean War 55 years ago. But how can this be? And how does the elusive Jean Frawley connect their two lives?

Nightingale is a luminous tale of faith and love, bravery and care, and the vitality of women's work. In this eagerly anticipated story, Laura Elvery shows why she is one of the most lauded writers of her generation.

2025, Queensland Literary Awards The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award, Short-listed

2025, Queensland Literary Awards People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, Winner

2026, Australian Book Design Awards Best Designed Literary Fiction/Poetry Cover, Long-listed

©2025 Laura Elvery (P)2025 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'Original, brilliant and wise. Nightingale shows the precarious humanity behind any historical myth, and honours in tender, vivid prose the physical and metaphysical dimensions of past lives. A beautiful achievement.' (Gail Jones, author of Our Shadows)

'A glorious, glass-sharp novel, raw and powerful, haunting and beautiful. Every sentence Elvery writes fizzes with talent. Nightingale reminded me what great fiction can reveal to us.' (Robbie Arnott, award-winning author of The Rain Heron)