War Girls

Among the many First World War themed books published this year, this collection of stories stands out from the crowd. Nine well regarded authors have contributed, with all but one being newly published. The connecting strand is girls and women in the war, so this reflects some different experiences from the more traditional war literature. For instance, Ghost Story is set in Gallipoli, with a mother who has lost her family becoming a sniper in an act of revenge, and Sally Nicholls story deals with the generation of spare women after the war, who never married, because of the huge loss of young men, and maybe because of that achieved much in their lives. In fact one overall theme is that women and girls found roles and opportunities during the war that were way beyond their previous experience, sometimes against the wishes of their families, alongside the grief and loss with so many men killed. Other stories are about ambulance drivers in France, a French girl trying to run her family farm, an entertainer for the troops, and a waitress who discovers a spy plot. The quality of the writing is high, as you would expect from these authors, and the variety of styles and viewpoints makes the book as a whole an enjoyable as well as an emotional and informative read. Melvin Burgesss contribution has a strong first person narrator, a girl who is horrified by her shell-shocked brothers apparent cowardice when on leave, but who then becomes a nurse at the Front and discovers the horror for herself. Mary Hoopers Storm in a Teashop has a lighter tone, reflecting the excitement and naivety of a young girl able for the first time to take a paid job. War Girls is ideal for Key Stage 3 readers, and treads a careful balance between not hiding the violence and horror of war, while equally not making it too graphic.

Suggested Reading Age 11+