It's 1911, and 21-year-old Evelyn Northey desperately wants to become a doctor. Her medico father forbids it, withholding the inheritance that would allow her to go to university. At the outbreak of World War I, Evelyn disobeys her father: she enlists as an army nurse bound for Egypt to care for the wounded from the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Under the blazing desert sun and amid the chaos and trauma of tending to battlefield casualties, Evelyn develops feelings for Dr William Brent, a polio survivor who believes his disability makes him unfit to marry. For Evelyn, still pursuing her goal of studying medicine, a man has no place in her future. Their experience of war and its deadly legacies forces each of them to reassess their beliefs - but for two self-reliant people, relying on someone else for happiness may be the hardest challenge of all.

The Desert Nurse shows not only the aftermath of Gallipoli but also a lesser known part of the war: what happened in Egypt, the Sinai and Palestine after the Gallipoli diggers went to France. Pamela Hart, the beloved best-selling Australian author of The War Bride, tells the heart-wrenching story of four years that changed the world - and these two extraordinary people - forever.

Includes free chapters of the best-selling A Letter from Italy.