Vera Brittain

Vera Brittain is the author of the book and is the one who is telling her own story. She is the daughter of one of the owners of a paper mill, in which she is a stockholder. Vera attends day school in Buxton then is sent to St. Monica's boarding school at the age of thirteen. Her aunt is one of the teachers at the school and she often returns there to relax or to teach. She enters Somerville College at Oxford just as World War I begins and interrupts her studies to work as a nurse. Vera becomes engaged to Roland, a friend of her brother's while he is on leave from the war. Roland is killed on December 23, 1915, right before he is to come home on leave. Vera decides to continue with her work at the hospital and signs up for the foreign service. She...