Sunday, January 12, 2020

The Kopp Sisters On the March

The Kopp Sisters are continuing their adventures.  This time Mary Stewart has brought them to a army training site i New Jersey as women are being prepared to assist the army as the United States prepares to enter WWI.

They are learning to be nurses in the field and other practical skills that will help in the war effort.
Stewart says that she does not have any real proof that the Kopp sisters were doing this but she has again used factual evidence that this is what was happening in NJ and that women were really participating this way, so she has placed them in a real camp.

 Once again Constance, who was relieved of her job as a female police officer, is taking charge of the National Service School at Camp Chevy Chase when the need arrises.  Norma has brought her cart of pigeons with her to introduce pigeon mail service to the army and Fleurette, is there as the camp seamstress and helps with camp entertainment helping to set up a play for camp morale .

Also brought into the story is the real life Beulah Binford, who is seeking refuge from her own scandalous past under the cover of a false identity.   She really did have a stint as a WWI nurse, but her past before that was quite scandalous .  Born in July 1895, Binford was described as a "handsome but morally corrupt girl" who in 1907 fell in love with Henry Clay Beattie Jr., the spoiled and irresponsible son of a prominent Richmond businessman.  She had his child out of wedlock and when he murdered his wife, allegedly to continue his affair, Binford was accused of conspiring with him.

Later released from prison, she led an anonymous life after being declared a pariah and died in 1973.

Amy Stewart always writes a fascinating novel with interesting characters and unusual information .

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