Not So Quiet . . .

March 15, 1989
This bittersweet feminist antiwar novel, first published in Great Britain in 1930 as autobiography, chronicles the experiences of six young Englishwomen who have paid to serve as volunteer ambulance drivers at the front lines in France during World War I. As they contend with bad food, lice, little sleep, grueling and gruesome work, and a merciless commandant, their middle-class parents swell with pride over their daughters' "doing their bit." Heaven forbid that a daughter should disgrace them by refusing to serve, choosing not to serve at the front, or coming home a coward. Brilliantly written, and cleverly mixing humor with bitterness, this novel originally won the Prix Severigne in France as "the novel most calculated to promote international peace."-- Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

Copyright 1989 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.