'Not So Quiet-Stepdaughter of war ' Helen Zenna Smith

[MichaelBully]

Just got to the end of this 1930 novel and thought that it was amazing.

'Helen Zenna Smith ' was really the journalist /playwright/ author Evadne Price ; after reading 'All Quiet on the Western Front' , Evadne Price wrote this novel based on a young woman's wartime diary .

The novel is centred around a 21 year old women ambulance driver . About two thirds of the novel concerns a specific group of female drivers at the 'Front and how the Great War is changing so much of their lives. The subjects covered include the harsh conditions they worked under, the trauma of facing the severely wounded men, being bombed, women taking up smoking and swearing and the occasional illicit drink, extra- marital sex,

The lead character manages to return home to face the huge chasm between an older generation who were proud of their daughters but couldn't understand the reality of war....

Found it totally gripping.

[MichaelBully]

Found an interesting post about this novel in the excellent Great War Fiction blog . Interesting points about fictionalised war time experience and the vexed question of 'authenticity'.

https://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/helen-zenna-smith-and-the-disguises-of-evadne-price/

[Sue Light]

That's a great piece by George Simmers which debunks Evadne Price's version of war. It's an entertaining book to read, but unfortunately one which is likely to be regarded as a true account nowadays. At least Simmers shows that to be untrue.

Sue

[MichaelBully]

Indeed Sue ! 'Not So Quiet' isn't a war memoir or even a fictionalised war memoir such as Sassoon's George Sherston series. Ultimately it's an entertaining novel set in the Great War. Regards.

That's a great piece by George Simmers which debunks Evadne Price's version of war. It's an entertaining book to read, but unfortunately one which is likely to be regarded as a true account nowadays. At least Simmers shows that to be untrue.

Sue

[Marilyne]

Just finished this book... read it in less than two days. 

It's a riveting read, has a very fast pace and indeed, is very critical. The chapter where she loads her ambulance while at the same time "showing" her mother and Mrs double name, two women competing for committees and prestige over the sacrifices of their children, what it is to see rows on rows of disfigured, dismembered and shell-shocked men, showing why, in the end, one of her friends killed herself and why she went home mad ... I was glued to my kindl! 

It contrasts with what we read mostly about the women who served. 

But as Simmers points out, it is a novel. It should sell, of course... 

But a great read!!! 

 

M.