An Audible Original. Coming December 10, 2020. Only from Audible
WILD SWAN The Story of Florence Nightingale by Patti Callahan and performed by award-winning, Cynthia Erivo.
The New York Times bestselling author of BECOMING MRS. LEWIS Patti Callahan‘s WILD SWAN, a novella following the fiery life of one of history’s greatest heroines and the mother of modern nursing: Florence Nightingale.
WILD SWAN introduces listeners to the Lady with the Lamp long before she became a legend. In this poignant story, a young woman has just discovered her divine purpose to become a nurse and struggles to make that dream a reality. While traveling abroad with her close friend, Selina Bracebridge—another strong woman living an unconventional life—a rare opportunity arises for Florence to practice medicine. Intellectually gifted with an advanced education thanks to her father’s progressive political views, can the daughter of a prominent English family defy Victorian societal and familial expectations to fulfill her destiny and her dreams?
Over the course of a few short years, Florence remains brave and determined in the face of all obstacles, pursuing her passion against her family’s wishes. From her parent’s luxurious countryside estate in England to her travels abroad to the German medical institute where she first began her training and fell in love with her work, we follow Florence during these pivotal early years of her extraordinary life. Read More.
About the Performer
Cynthia Erivo
Actress. Singer. Songwriter
Cynthia Erivo is a Tony®, Emmy® and Grammy Award-winning actress as well as a SAG, double Golden Globe®, and double Academy Award®-nominee. Erivo burst onto West End and Broadway stages in “The Color Purple” (based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name), and has since taken the big screen by storm. Erivo currently stars on the HBO series “The Outsider,” which premiered on January 12, 2020. The series is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.
Erivo recently starred in Kasi Lemmons’ “Harriet”, where she brought the legacy of African American civil rights activist Harriet Tubman to the big screen. The film follows Harriet Tubman as she escapes slavery and goes on to lead the Underground Railroad (2019) and Double Oscar nominee Erivo received Academy Award nominations for (2020) Best Actress and Best Original Song,"Stand Up" from "Harriet". Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo will join the star-studded cast of the upcoming "Chaos Walking" (2021) based on the 2008 novel by Patrick Ness. Read More.
About the Heroine
Florence Nightingale
Social reformer. Statistician. Founder of Modern Medicine.
Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC, DStJ was an English social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale was a trailblazing figure in nursing who greatly affected 19th- and 20th-century policies around proper medical care. She was known for her night rounds to aid the wounded, establishing her image as the 'Lady with the Lamp.' Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer. In her lifetime, much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge. Read More.
About the Author
Patti Callahan
New York Times Bestselling Author. Podcast Host.
Photo Credit: Bud Johnson Photography
Savannah, GA
Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of fifteen novels, including the (Historical Fiction), BECOMING MRS. LEWIS—The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis (writing as Patti Callahan). In addition, she is the recipient of The Christy Award—A 2019 Winner "Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2020 and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for 2019.
In March of 2021, a new historical fiction novel — SURVIVING SAVANNAH based on the true story of the Steamship Pulaski wreck will be released.
WILD SWAN, a novella following the fiery life of one of history’s greatest heroines and the mother of modern nursing: Florence Nightingale by Patti Callahan will be released December 10, 2020, as an Audible Original performed by Cynthia Erivo.
The author is also the host of the popular seven-part original "Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series" launched, October 2019. The podcast audiobook collection including bonus material was released in January 2020, and available now. The new expanded BECOMING MRS. LEWIS paperback edition was released on March 24, 2020, and available now.
Patti Callahan is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly Friends and Fiction Facebook Live Show and podcast, featuring the five bestselling authors Mary Kay Andrews, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Kristin Harmel, and Mary Alice Monroe with endless stories, special guests, and a way to connect readers and writers. THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER (writing as Patti Callahan Henry—Southern Contemporary Fiction) was launched in June 2019, and THE PERFECT LOVE SONG—A Christmas Holiday novella released in October 2019, and available now. A full-time author and mother of three children, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband. Read More.