THERE was an extraordinary and significant omission in Rosemary Goring's choice of 10 books to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World Wart (Checklist, The Herald, July 31).
The importance of Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, the mother of Shirley Williams, has already been recognised by television dramas, one which is currently being filmed by the BBC and the book's continuing popularity, 80 years after its publication.
This book is a moving, honest and influential biographical memoir of that war, significantly by a woman about the personal cost of war on her and the effects on the women who were left behind.
By 1918, Vera Brittain, a middle-class provincial girl, had joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Her brother, fiancé and two of his friends were all dead.
Her generation had been decimated by war. Her hopes for the future were in shreds.
Brittain immortalises her brother and his friends, Edward, Roland, Victor and Geoffrey, who are not merely names on a war memorial.
We remember them and others on Monday and their generation's sacrifice. However, her deeply passionate anguish can be understood and continue to resonate with those affected by more recent conflicts and global wars, trying to making sense of their personal loss.
Gillian Mawdsley,
23 Orleans Avenue,
Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article