INFINITE KINDNESS by Laurie Blauner, ISBN 978-0-930773-80-9

Infinite Kindness

a novel
by Laurie Blauner

ISBN 978-0-930773-80-9

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In 1867, Ann Russell, a nurse and a veteran of the Crimean War, works at a charity hospital and struggles with her transition to peacetime London. She must confront problems of euthanasia, medicine, sexual identity, grief and spirituality on both a personal and a social level. She misses the comradeship of soldiers and other nurses. She especially misses Florence Nightingale with whom she worked during the war. Now, In London, she consults her for advice and support. Life in London is tepid compared with the life she has known, and she finds herself waiting for the next war. In the meantime, she provides release to those whose lives have become unbearable owing to wounds or injuries, poverty or degradation. She kills them.

“Set in 1867 London, Blauner’s atmospheric and intriguing second novel (after Somebody) centers on private nurse Ann Russell, who is still haunted by her service in the Crimean War. Ann displays the photo of a soldier whose suffering she relieved through euthanasia, convincing others that she mourns for a fiancé and thus escaping entanglements with men while she explores her sexual attraction to women. Other tensions and uncertainties abound in this Victorian setting, in which séances held to communicate with spirits seem no odder than scientific experiments with such unseen forces as electricity and magnetism. Ann’s graphic descriptions of filthy hospital conditions and horrific injuries help justify her acts of “mercy,” which result in the deaths of others in her care. Because she takes laudanum while ministering to patients, many of her accounts have a surreal quality. Her estrangement from her family, compulsive correspondence with Florence Nightingale, and hints of past breakdowns raise additional questions about her mental stability. Yet Ann’s personal struggles and the societal upheavals and debates of the day offer much to ponder… a poetic and evocative treatment of a fascinating time.”
—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato

“Blauner creates images rich with feeling and color, transforming the seemingly insignificant into the extraordinary.”
—Willamette Week

“Somebody is a poet’s novel in every way you could hope for. Her words layer and dart and resonate the way images do in dreams.”
—Rebecca Brown, author of The Gifts of the Body and Excerpts From A Family Medical Dictionary

“Laurie Blauner has written a wonderfully poignant novel… I was taken with the language and the amazing images and metaphors.”
—James Welch, author or The Heartsong of Charging Elk and Winter in the Blood