Product Description

Vera Brittain's bestselling Testament of Youth was based on her own copious diaries which have a much greater intimacy and immediacy than the account written for publication. These are those diaries. They begin in the carefree summer of 1913 with a blossoming romance and earnest discussions about the purpose of life and the nature of God - but not about the onset of war, which takes them by surprise. The diary entries that follow that blissful period begin to darken rapidly. Her brother, her fiance and most of their young men friends are killed in the war. Vera herself goes from knitting helmets and bandaging classes to abandoning her studies at Oxford to train as a nurse. She spent the remainder of the war nursing war-wounded men, among them German prisoners. Her diaries written in London, Malta and France, contain moving descriptions of battle scenes; Zeppelin horrors over London and provide a poignant insight into the mind of this generous-hearted girl who was to become a beacon of the feminist movement.She emerged from these horrifying testing years a committed and lifelong pacifist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #735880 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Born in 1893, Vera Brittain was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, and became renowned as a pacifist, feminist, author, journalist and lecturer, after her first hand experiences of the first world war. She died in 1970.

Customer Reviews

Gripping and poignant - a woman's experience of World War I.
This book takes us through the first world war from a woman's viewpoint, but I feel a man could find it relevant and absorbing too. When I first read it I had never heard of Vera Brittain and did'nt even know that she was the mother of the politician, Shirley Williams.

The diary begins in 1913 when Vera is 19 and enjoying a comfortable and protected lifestyle in Buxton, Derbyshire. Highly intelligent and an emerging feminist, she works hard to win a place at Oxford. The war intrudes abruptly two months before she is due to go up to university.

Over the next three years we follow her compelling story of romance, friendships, being an undergraduate and then nursing the wounded in England and Malta. The romance between Vera and Roland is poignant and moving and one which will not be forgotten easily.

Because it is written in diary form the writer is able to be frank and honest. The daily events come across vivid and alive as they happen. In short you feel as if you are experiencing the events with her more than you would in a conventional autobigraphy.

Although Vera Brittain was from an upper-middle-class background and not representative of the vast majority of women then, nevertheless we can still identify with her joys and sorrows as she emerges into the adult world. Nothing is spared: the horror of life in the trenches told through Roland's letters, the drudgery and unpleasant facts of nursing, while through all this Vera struggles to believe in a life hereafter. But the book is not all doom and gloom and the many varying characters we meet lend it colour and light relief.

Vera is forthright and headstrong but loyal, hardworking and capable of loving deeply.

I would recommend reading "Chronicle of Youth" first before going on to read "Testament of Youth" which covers the years 1900 to 1925. That way the reader can identify with the author and have more empathy towards her. Finally I would recommend "Vera Brittain: a Life" by Paul Berry and Mark Bostridge (1995), an excellent book which gives an unbiased comprehensive account of Vera's life.

It may sound like a cliche now to speak of "the lost generation" but this book really does help bring them to life and show us what they endured. I am not a pacifist but after reading "Chronicle of Youth" I can fully understand why Vera Brittain devoted much of the rest of her life to its cause.

Everyone should read this book at least once in their lives
This is the type of life altering book that you may have heard other people talking about. Having read Testament of Youth and other works about Vera Brittain this is still the most moving volume. To hear the pain Vera felt coming from her own mouth is heart-breaking, you are presented with as real an image of Vera Brittain as you are ever going to get. The reader can see her develop from a young girl more interested in the provincial dances and young men into a young woman altered forever by the Great War. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry and I doubt you will ever forget it. Fabulous.

Warm Frost Inspirations by Terry Frost Artist
I must say that this book has inspired me to rethink my approach to painting. I have always liked to paint big and bold and I have always loved using bright colours but I must admit I have only just come across Terry Frost, and this is the book that inspires the reader.