The bulk of this book consists of a telling of Clark’s life, with a focus on her early life through to the 1930s and especially on her involvement in Quaker relief work, first in France and then Vienna. As a major subtheme, it also tells much of the life story of Edith Pye, her partner. It provides some of the context of the European political and military situation, although without scope to tell the full story. Clark’s humanitarian work is covered in some detail, although with considerations about the role of her religion, her personality, and her family connections in shaping the work which was done, the way it was done, and the relationships she had with other workers. A key source is the use of letters between Clark and members of her extended family, and letter between Clark and Pye, and while the book does not do much to explicitly highlight the original contributions it is making, I would identify the use of these sources (in their original form, rather than as edited for publication) and the work to place Clark in her Quaker and social context as valuable additions to the field.

The material is arranged in eight chronological chapters. The first two deal with Clark’s childhood, education, and early professional life, highlighting her love of animals and interest in care, and her medical training, including her work on treating tuberculosis. The second chapter also briefly describes her involvement in the pre-war period, in what might broadly be termed liberation campaigns for women’s suffrage and for greater sexual freedom, including around birth control, divorce and homosexuality. Chapter 3 describes events at the outbreak of war and explains how and why the Friends’ War Victims’ Relief Committee set out to work in France. This work then forms the focus of the next two chapters, with chapter 4 covering the establishment and expansion of the work and chapter 5 addressing a particular project, the formation of a maternity hospital in Châlons-sur-Marne especially for those displaced within France by the war. The combination of letters and official documents provides a rich insight into the difficulties of the working conditions, including the practicalities created by the ongoing violence and the challenges of working at a distance from sources of support. For example, recruiting suitable volunteers is a persistent issue, mostly conducted by letter (providing ample evidence of the process) and through either Quaker committees (the formal way) or through direct approaches within friendship and kinship networks (a ‘very irregular mode of proceeding’, wrote Ruth Fry, trying to co-ordinate in London (p55)).

Chapters 6 and 7 move the story forward to the inter-war period. From 1919 to 1922 Clark was at work in Vienna, where, as well as medical care, a central problem was starvation: children in particular were presented for medical treatment with illnesses for which the main treatment, as well as the main preventative, was simply enough and adequate food (p72). Projects to address this in various ways were set up; Clark and Pye worked on fundraising including travelling to the USA, and after three years the work was handed over to Austrian agencies, not solved, but no longer simply the issues arising from the effects of the war (p79). It is at the end of chapter 6 that we get the clearest discussion of Clark’s understanding of the role of religion in relief work: as a motivator for those seeking to help, and not an opportunity for proselytising (p82). Chapter 7 is a brief one, describing how Clark’s knowledge of the situation in Vienna, and Clark and Pye’s knowledge of and connections in France, meant that they could be involved in helping some Jewish people to escape the Nazi regime.

Finally, Chapter 8, ‘Peace at Last’ finishes the story in just a few pages, telling us some more about Clark and Pye’s relationship (for example, that Clark wrote to Pye, in the same letter from 1910 which provided the quote for the book title, ‘My whole being craves to find thee in my arms’ (p93)). It also provides some reflections on the role of gender in Clark’s life, in the context of the particular time, in which women’s ‘struggle for professional acceptance went hand in hand with the struggle for the vote’ (p94).

Overall, this is a solid piece of historical work which introduces the reader to a strong character and the often difficult and painful times in which she was embedded. It highlights without dramatising the depth and strength of her life partnership with Edith Pye. It provides some key points of context without losing focus on Clark. It also provides insights into other figures from the period: for example, that she was not a fan of T. E. Harvey, saying that he was ‘not capable of bossing one party, let alone several’ (p56). It will be especially useful to historians of the period in general, to Quaker Studies scholars interested in relief work, and to those investigating LGBTQ+ histories.