Miss Morgan's Book Brigade
WWI and the Reconstruction of France
Do you believe in libraries?
No matter how much I try to learn about history, something always pops up that I know nothing about. That's why I love historical fiction so much. I always learn something new...like the fact that Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J. P. Morgan, used her wealth, influence, and fundraising abilities to help rebuild devastated communities in northeastern France during and after World War I. Not only did Anne Morgan and her friend, Anne Murray Dike, help procure supplies, tools, and labor to rebuild villages, but they pioneered the development of libraries for children and families who had been without books for several years. They believed that education and libraries could help communities recover, and Morgan recruited New York Public Library librarian Jessie ‘Kit’ Carson to organize CARD's library program. That librarian, Jessie "Kit" Carson, is the subject of Janet Skeslien Charles' novel, Miss Morgan's Book Brigade.
Have you heard of the American Committee for Devastated France?
Yep. Neither had I! I had no idea before I read Miss Morgan's Book Brigade that such a thing even existed. “Basically, it was an American relief organization led by Anne Morgan and Dr. Anne Murray Dike to help devastated communities in northeastern France rebuild. Women from all over the United States, often privileged, highly educated women, went to Northern France and volunteered their time and efforts to help communities rebuild. These women re-established schools, pharmacies, and town centers. They cleared land, reconstructed homes and buildings, and fought to eradicate the hunger and malnutrition that was rampant.
During the German offensive of 1918, CARD volunteers were even called upon to help evacuate French civilians from the advancing front.
Interestingly, the French name for the American Committee for Devastated France translates to Le Comité Américain pour les Régions Dévasées, commonly abbreviated as CARD, so the American women who worked for this group were called "Cards." (There were frequent puns in the novel playing on this fortunate term!)
Bring in the librarians!
Most of us have never heard of Jessie Kit Carson, the real-life librarian who traveled to France during wartime and helped establish a network of public libraries and train French women in modern librarianship. When Wendy Peterson, a fictional character who is an aspiring writer working in the New York Public Library in 1987, sees a reference to Jessie Carson on an old microfiche, her interest is piqued. What begins is a fascination with Jessie and the other "Cards" who sacrificed so much for the French people at the end of the war. Wendy begins a writing project intended to tell this important story.
As with many contemporary books, Miss Morgan's Book Brigade is told through a dual viewpoint. Jessie narrates events of 1918. Wendy tells her story in 1987. Both stories reflect what life was like in those time periods and locales, seventy years apart.
The loss and ruin inherent in wartime
Miss Morgan's Book Brigade tells the story of women who bond over a shared goal of improving the lives of others. The Cards are women who are doing whatever they can to help, and in the process, they form deep and abiding friendships. The Cards are also able to help the women of the town begin to heal and rebuild their lives, many of them without husbands or family members.
Interestingly, the author modeled several of the townspeople on real people and their wartime experiences.
Because so many of the characters have suffered loss, the book is scattered with observations of grief and varying reactions to it:
One woman says,
"Mourning is a winding path. Sometimes the walk is invigorating, and I feel fine. Then one word, one memory, and I trip and tumble to the ground. Pebbles of memory break through the skin of my palms. It hurts so much I can barely breathe."
The townspeople. The Cards. The adversity.
Each of the townspeople is dealing with his or her own issues, exacerbated by the difficulty of remaining in a war-torn place. Everywhere, buildings have been destroyed. Rubble is piled in the streets and the fields. Mines are still buried in unexpected places.
Reading Miss Morgan's Book Brigade reminded me of how lucky I am to live in a place that has not been bombed and brutalized. It pulled my heartstrings thinking of the courage and tenacity it took those villagers - and those Cards - not to give up.
The History Behind Miss Morgan's Book Brigade
One of the most interesting parts of the novel was what came after the ending.
The Author's Note explains what happens to the real women portrayed in the book:
Jessie "Kit" Carson, stayed four years over her original two-year contract. Under Carson's leadership, CARD founded five libraries and created fifty circulating libraries. But books alone didn't satisfy Carson's desire to build a future for books in France. She also guided the funding for Library Science degrees for French women who came to study in the United States before she laid the groundwork for a library school for women in France.
Another one of the Cards, Mary Breckinridge who worked as a nurse and midwife during WWI in France, came home to the States and began the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky.
Anne Morgan and Dr. Anne Murray Dike received the Croix de Guerre avec Palme—the French “Cross of War”—for their service, and several other CARD volunteers were also awarded the Croix de Guerre for courage under fire.
Simply written. Powerful story.
This is a simply written, straight-forward story. It focuses on the strength, courage, and humanitarian efforts of women who didn't have to volunteer to go to the front lines. But they did. Filled with friendship, determination, and idealism that makes all volunteer efforts possible, Miss Morgan's Book Brigade is a memorable book about a real effort to bring books and beauty back into France.
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