Revisiting Florence

Why not, I thought, revisit the ending of my book? Not to change it, but to add a further chapter. 2020, the bicentenary of Nightingale's birth, seemed like the perfect opportunity - I had no idea last summer how terribly poignant a return to Florence Nightingale would be. So my inspirational editor, Juliet Ewers, helped me plan a reissue. All I needed to do was to write the chapter.

I was excited by the prospect of returning to a period, landscape, and characters I loved. But as I began to write I realised that I'd set myself quite a challenge. Fifteen years of life and four more novels had gone by since I wrote that book - I was a different woman and a different writer. And the world had changed - Putin had invaded the Crimea, we'd fought fresh wars, become embroiled in the moral and political struggle that was Brexit, seen the rise of the #MeToo movement.