Tag Archives: women

Devotion to duty

Posted on October 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram It wasn’t all dancing for Canadian #nurses serving in France in #WW1. Along with their British and US counterparts these women suffered serious injury and death whilst caring for the wounded of all nationalities. The … Continue reading →

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Dancing on active service shock

Posted on October 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram It’s not fair! Canadian nurses serving in France during #WW1 #GreatWar were allowed to dance! With men! (Well, fellow officers anyway…) This was Strictly Forbidden for British nurses. Extract from 1919 Report of the Work … Continue reading →

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Excitable with peculiar mannerisms…

Posted on October 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Another afternoon in the #NationalArchives, this time browsing references written by matrons for nurses wishing serve in France in the #GreatWar #FirstWorldWar #WW1 with Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps #QARANC. The women are all … Continue reading →

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The Incurable Romantic (research review)

Posted on September 11, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram The Incurable Romantic by Frank Tallis (2018) is compulsive background reading for a writer of #historicalromance. Falling in love is “a combustable state that reproduces the symptoms of psychiatric illness” and, when love goes wrong, … Continue reading →

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Aftermath of war

Posted on September 3, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram This is Road at St Paul (1922) by French artist Félix Vallotton. It features in @tate excellent exhibition #WW1Aftermath. A while ago I wrote (on my blog) about the inspiration I get from my various … Continue reading →

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The Joy of Writing Sex (research review)

Posted on August 30, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram I read The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict (revised edition 2001) on Kindle, which may accounts for the boring cover image. Sorry about that – and apologies also … Continue reading →

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Worthless Men (reading-as-a-writer 10)

Posted on August 30, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Why do I bother writing when the world already contains books like Worthless Men by Andrew Cowan (2013)? Set in an English market town in post-Somme 1916, the action spans no more than a couple … Continue reading →

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Testament of Mary (reading-as-a-writer 9)

Posted on August 15, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram I had to read Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin (2012) twice; the first time to get to the end of a gripping story, the second time to read the words. In between sittings, I … Continue reading →

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The Roses of No Man’s Land (research review)

Posted on August 7, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Out of all the books I’ve read about the #GreatWar Lyn MacDonald’s histories stand out; readable, warm and packed with the minutiae of human experience set against solid historical background. I know some historians have … Continue reading →

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Three brilliant Great War blogs

Posted on January 6, 2018 by

Erudite, witty, and beautifully written, this blog never fails to fascinate and move in equal measure. Continue reading →

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