Helen Boylston

Helen Dore Boylston was a prominent American author, best known for her young adult novel series, the Sue Barton series and the Carol Page series. Boylston was born on April 4, 1895, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she spent most of her childhood. She was nicknamed "Troub" due to her mischievous nature. Boylston initially aspired to study medicine like her father, but she opted for nursing due to its shorter training period. She graduated from the nursing program at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1915.

After her graduation, Boylston sailed to France to serve in World War I as part of the British Expeditionary Force. She worked as a nurse in a local hospital and specialized in anesthesia, rising to the rank of captain. Boylston documented her experiences during her service in a book published in 1927. After the war, she remained in Europe for two years, providing service to civilians in Poland, Italy, Germany, Albania, and Russia. It was during this time that she became friends with Rose Wilder Lane. Upon her return to the United States, Boylston resumed her nursing career, teaching anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and becoming the department's director. She later worked as a psychiatric nurse in New York City and as a head nurse in Connecticut.

Boylston missed the camaraderie and intense effort of her wartime service and joined the Red Cross to work in Poland and Albania. However, the work was not satisfying for her. She then returned to the U.S., where she taught nose and throat anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital for two years. During this time, Rose Wilder Lane read Boylston's wartime diary and arranged for its publication in the Atlantic Monthly. Boylston's first book, "Sister: War Diary of A Nurse," gives a detailed account of her personal experiences during the war times. She later collaborated with Rose Lane and wrote a book based on their time spent together in a European excursion of 1926. This book, called "Travels with Zenobia," was published in the year 1982.