Moving Mountains
Claire Bertschinger
Lesley Hands, Travel Nurse Advisor
Reason you chose this book
The book is about the nurse who inspired Live Aid. The media coverage (during the 1980's), showing the human devastation due to famine in Ethiopia, is always etched in my memory. It inspired me to think about nursing within the bigger picture of life. It inspired me to complete a nursing diploma in tropical medicine.
Review
It's an open and honest memoir and very informative – from a nursing perspective. We get to learn about what motivated and inspired Claire. We learn how she had to overcome her dyslexia to qualify as a nurse. It's a book full of passion and compassion. The author takes us on journey from the Middle East to the African continent, giving vivid accounts of the challenges; and heartfelt decisions that she had to make: in the face of adversity. It brings it home the horrors of war, famine and disease in poor resource settings. Michael Buerk describes her as: 'one of the true heroines' of our time. And, having been fortunate to have met her, as a student at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, she remains one of my contemporary nursing heroes.
January's page turners
Page last updated - 03/08/2019