Chapter One Summary and Analysis

The author traces the family trees of her mother and her father, and discovers that her mother did not love her parents, and her father did not love his either. The author notes that women seem to be invisible in history. Doris's mother, Maude, is trained to be a nurse, and is assigned to a hospital. She falls in love with a young doctor who loves her as well. The doctor, though, is assigned to a ship, and dies when the ship is torpedoed. When World War One begins, her father Alfred becomes a soldier, is injured, and ends up in the same hospital where Emily is serving as a nurse. His injury requires the amuptation of his leg, and he falls into a depression. Although Maude has a broken heart and Alfred has depression, they fall in love...