The Arrival of the Dunkirk Wounded

The hospital is overwhelmed by the arrival of hundreds of wounded soldiers from Dunkirk. Briony and the other nurses work around the clock, dealing with horrific injuries—amputations, burns, and shrapnel wounds. This experience is a brutal education for Briony. She witnesses the reality of war and the fragility of the human body. She also discovers a capacity for compassion and competence that she did not know she had. The arrival of the wounded marks a turning point in her nursing career and deepens her sense of guilt, as she realizes the scale of the suffering in the world and her own small part in causing it.