Gemma Tizzard's gripping second novel, The Nightingales of Boston, plunges readers into the devastating 1942 fire at Boston's Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and follows the stories of three women whose lives overlap as a result of the disaster.
On a chilly wartime Thanksgiving weekend, aspiring Boston Globe reporter Inez Reyes heads to the Grove hoping to capture a story but soon finds herself providing assistance as badly burned victims claw their way to safety. One of those victims, Alice Corrigan, is determined to reunite with her fiancé, George, after getting separated from him in the blaze. Both women end up at Boston City Hospital, where capable nurse Nina Jackson is already exhausted from a weekend shift and totally unprepared for the hundreds of burn victims that will flood the hospital. As the fire's horrific impact becomes clear, all three women dig deep into their reserves of courage and grit to help where they can and, in Inez's case, bring some uncomfortable truths to light.
Tizzard (Grace of the Empire State) tells their story in alternating chapters, giving readers a sense of each woman's fears and priorities in the wake of the fire. Alice is primarily focused on searching for George but also ends up aiding families trying to locate their loved ones at the hospital. Nina, struggling to maintain her professional demeanor, becomes horrified and exhausted by the injuries and the massive efforts required to triage and treat. And Inez, though she's itching to write a front-page story, also recognizes that reconnecting victims with their families--and holding the club's owner accountable for the fire's cause--matters far more than a byline.
Tizzard's narrative brims with details of 1940s Boston: the North End's narrow streets filled with Italian restaurants; the presence of young, newly minted military recruits; and the complicated balancing act required of young women striving to build their own lives. She explores each woman's motivations and hesitations, including (particularly in Alice's case) the difficulty of acting independently from parents and other authority figures. Inez must walk a tricky line of being respectful to her editor, cultivating her own story sources, and insisting on the truth, even when no one wants to hear it from a young Latina woman.
Fast-paced and packed with medical details (the fire proved to be a landmark moment for advances in burn care), Tizzard's novel puts a human face on the fire's nearly 500 victims and shines a light on the strength of women who choose courage and compassion under pressure. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Gemma Tizzard's gripping second novel follows the intertwined stories of three young women in the aftermath of Boston's devastating Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire.