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A 'lost' women's classic from World War I - discovered in the rare books room of the British Library, last seen in 1917!
A Scottish woman sends funny, moving, compassionate and rousing letters to her younger brother, set to fight with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the trenches of WWI. Dunfermline, her hometown and the base for the Scottish regiment The Black Watch, morphs into an active home front.
Letter by letter we watch the war unfolding. Her brother trains with his cavalry regiment on England's Salisbury Plain and moves to frontline duty in France. Shocked by the war and those who inflame it, the sister's letters are frank and also encouraging. Others are vanishing. She needs her brother, her young Canadian, to survive. Complete with an introduction, a closing biography, and original photographs of the author and the period.
"Daisy Thomson Gigg creates a voice as alive and open, fresh and engaged as when she sat at the little round table, beneath the red-shaded lamp more than a century ago, writing to her Boy, determined to keep his spirits up and remind him of home....Hers represents a new and unique voice and an important addition to the canon of literature of the First World War." -Angela K. Smith, author of Women's Writing of the First World War
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction |
11 |
Letters from the Little Blue Room |
15 |
1. On Returning from Holidays – Nice and Otherwise |
17 |
2. War-Conditions in our Town |
22 |
3. The Regulars – Personality v. Money |
26 |
4. "The Myriad-Handed Murder of Multitudes" |
30 |
5. To Valcartier Concentration Camp, Quebec |
35 |
6. To Salisbury Plain |
38 |
7. Memories |
41 |
8. Our Boys – Part of the Battle |
45 |
9. Women and War. – The Pride of the British Army |
49 |
10. On Friendship and Tolerance. – Enter Bettetina |
56 |
11. Passion – "A Temple Pure" |
62 |
12. On Disillusionment |
66 |
13. Functions |
70 |
14. Spring. – Great-Grandmother Eve. – "Ours!" |
75 |
15. Enter Pilot Me II |
80 |
16. The Hump – And A Cure |
91 |
17. "Ours!" Again – "The Seventh's Farewell" |
96 |
18. Heroism And Heroes |
100 |
19. A Thrashing from God |
104 |
20. Snobs. – National Anthems – On Going Abroad |
108 |
21. Wire to Southampton, July 3rd, 1915 |
113 |
22. An Old Maid's Family |
114 |
23. Army v. Navy |
121 |
24. Morality or "Usualness" |
126 |
25. Trees. – The Ink of Fools |
129 |
26. A Creed – Poverty. – Lives Of Great Men |
134 |
27. Birthday Reflections – and a Message |
138 |
28. Another Crusader Goes Forth. – Happiness. – The Gleam |
142 |
29. Bettetina Stays. – "Bread and Roses." – "Not Fallen" |
147 |
30. On Christmas Things. – Toys |
151 |
31. Too Young! – Bettetina's Tastes. – The Poor Press |
156 |
32. "Nuts" – 1915 |
160 |
33. The Pride of The British Army Goes Out. – A Prayer. – "Resolve" |
165 |
34. That First Morning Feeling. – On Men's and Women's Giving. – Symbols |
169 |
35. On Art – High and Otherwise |
173 |
36. Hard Lines! |
178 |
37. On "Moral" Writers – The Darkened Streets. – Shortage Of Paper |
184 |
38. Spring Comes Again |
189 |
39. Wire |
193 |
40. On Death |
194 |
41. On Life |
197 |
42. On Going Into Action |
200 |
43. In Hospital – Harry Passes |
204 |
44. A Hero Without A Halo – Mrs. St. Clair Stobart’s Message To Women |
207 |
Afterword |
212 |
Acknowledgements |
221 |
Notes |
222 |
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Daisy Thomson Gigg (1885-1953) was born in Brooklyn, New York . At the age of four she moved to Scotland with her Scottish family, settling in the town of Dunfermline.
Letters from the Little Blue Room was her first book, published anonymously in . 1916, followed by a book of short stories,
The Call. Styling herself 'a fiction writer' she emigrated back to the USA in 1921. Marrying a fellow novelist and farmer she settled in Penrose, Colorado, where she continued writing stories and being active in the suffragette movement.
Zusammenfassung
A 'lost' women's classic from World War I - discovered in the rare books room of the British Library, last seen in 1917!
A Scottish woman sends funny, moving, compassionate and rousing letters to her younger brother, set to fight with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the trenches of WWI. Dunfermline, her hometown and the base for the Scottish regiment The Black Watch, morphs into an active home front.
Letter by letter we watch the war unfolding. Her brother trains with his cavalry regiment on England’s Salisbury Plain and moves to frontline duty in France. Shocked by the war and those who inflame it, the sister’s letters are frank and also encouraging. Others are vanishing. She needs her brother, her young Canadian, to survive. Complete with an introduction, a closing biography, and original photographs of the author and the period.
"Daisy Thomson Gigg creates a voice as alive and open, fresh and engaged as when she sat at the little round table, beneath the red-shaded lamp more than a century ago, writing to her Boy, determined to keep his spirits up and remind him of home....Hers represents a new and unique voice and an important addition to the canon of literature of the First World War."
– Angela K. Smith, author of Women's Writing of the First World War
Vorwort
- A compelling voice from 1916 offers pacifist viewpoints relevant now.
- A strong title for WWI history and War Studies, Women’s Studies, Canadian History, Scottish history lists.
- Brings a powerful Scottish-American author to global attention.
- A new ranking figure for movement reclaiming lost women writers.
