A NURSE AT THE FRONT First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton

[b3rn]

Email this week from Dick Robinson at http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/ to say that the diaries of Sister Edith Appleton are available through Simon & Schuster.

A NURSE AT THE FRONT The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton

Edited by Ruth Cowen

With an introduction by Michael Morpurgo

Publication date is Thursday 1 March and it will be available as:

· a hardback: http://books.simonan...n/9780857202239,and

· an ebook: http://books.simonan...n/9780857202246.

· It should be available as apaperback next year.

You can of course get the book discountedfrom Amazon and others.

If you live anywhere near Moreton-in-the-Marshin Gloucestershire please come and say hello at the Cotswold Bookstore in Moreton on the morning of Saturday 17 March. More information here: http://cotswoldbooks...e-at-front.html.

If you live outside the UK you should find information about the book on your local version of the Simon & Schuster website.

There are likely to be some events connected with the book later in the year but, for now, just one date is confirmed: a free lunchtime presentation at the National Army Museumin London by meand an actress friend who will be reading extracts from the diaries. At present this is scheduled for Thursday 6 September and here's the page where it will be listed later: http://www.nam.ac.uk...chtime-lectures.

It has been a fantastic journey getting the original handwritten diaries first onto a website, then as broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and now as a book.

Some time in the next week I shall begin to'tweet' from @ediesdiaries (it's the publisher's idea, not mine!) so, if you are into Twitter, feel free to re-tweet to spread theword. If anyone is in touch with WW1 forums or similar I would, ofcourse, be very happy for you to let them know as well!

With best wishes and I hope you enjoy thebook.

Dick Robinson

P.S. The live readings - if you've not heard them already - are well worth a listen - http://www.edithappl...io/bbcprogs.asp

[Leigh Mc]

Thanks for the link. I will make sure that it is stocked at Hyland's here in Melbourne as soon as it is available.

[Marilyne]

Just finished reading this and can only recommend it !!

Authentic, powerful, funny and so, so honest!!

I also learned some really interesting tid bits about the women buried on the Western Front that I'm researching and for that I'm grateful.

 

if you haven't read it yet, go for it!! It's a fantastic book !!

 

Marilyne

[Ghazala]

A very moving book.  In 'A Nurse at the Front' Edith Appleton relates an incident from No.3 Casualty Clearing Station in 1915. There were so many wounded and dead, and an orderly was trying to sort them for burial according to religion etc. 'Then he found a fresh difficulty - one man, who he thought was an officer, had nothing to mark him as such. 'And 'ow am I to bury. 'im? As a' officer - or man?' Sister said, 'Surely they all get buried the same?' 'No they don't,' said the bewildered corporal, 'Men is 'ammered - officers is screwed.' Poor sister, who was worn out as well as everyone else, suddenly went hysterical and laughed and laughed ...

[Marilyne]

On ‎14‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 21:45, Ghazala said:

A very moving book.  In 'A Nurse at the Front' Edith Appleton relates an incident from No.3 Casualty Clearing Station in 1915. There were so many wounded and dead, and an orderly was trying to sort them for burial according to religion etc. 'Then he found a fresh difficulty - one man, who he thought was an officer, had nothing to mark him as such. 'And 'ow am I to bury. 'im? As a' officer - or man?' Sister said, 'Surely they all get buried the same?' 'No they don't,' said the bewildered corporal, 'Men is 'ammered - officers is screwed.' Poor sister, who was worn out as well as everyone else, suddenly went hysterical and laughed and laughed ...

 

It seems that this passage clearly marked a lot of people. It's being quoted a lot here on the forum, in various topics, be it to describe the work of the men and women at the CCS, the difficulties, the strain, difficult procedures or simply to underline the fact that most of them really were at the end of their wits.

 

M.

[caulkheader]

If you are remotely interested in the ‘mechanics & day to day’ stuff that goes on away from the front line, then the book is unmissable.

 

Every time I pass the little cottage where she ended her days in the small village of Brighstone, here on the Island, I give a little smile and a nod of the head in appreciation of her (and many others) efforts.

T

[seaJane]

Is there a plaque on the cottage, T? I work the other side of the Solent and visit the Island sometimes.

[caulkheader]

49 minutes ago, seaJane said:

Is there a plaque on the cottage, T? I work the other side of the Solent and visit the Island sometimes.

I will try to have a sneakie next time I pass.

[yperman]

This is a great book. There was some steel in her too - that bit where she approvingly records a German POW orderly getting a rifle butt across the back of the  head for being offensive- shows her to be very much 'of her time'. 

[Ghazala]

I was rather surprised to read today that, on page 163, she writes “some of the men are terribly wounded - eight have died and more will.  One thing to be grateful for - very few officers came down with the last lot”.  Did some nurses really hold the view that it was better for an enlisted man to die than an officer.

[David Filsell]

The past is another country etc. I'm sure many shared this view and that many did not.

[Ghazala]

I wish our great friend, Sue Light, was still here.