Vera Brittain: A Life

Vera Brittain (1893-1970) is best known as the author of Testament of Youth, the eloquent memoir of her World War I experiences that gave voice to a generation forever shattered and haunted by the Great War. Paul Berry and Mark Bostridge provide a full and candid account of Brittain's life that alters in important respects the self-portrait she presented in Testament of Youth and her later autobiographical work, Testament of Experience. Drawing on a treasure trove of private family papers and memorabilia, Berry and Bostridge chronicle her conservative and provincial upbringing, university education, and the devastating losses of her fiance, younger brother, and two friends in the first World War. They examine her struggles to become a successful writer, her close relationship with writer Winifred Holtby, her unconventional marriage to political scientist George Catlin, and her courageous stance against Britain's saturation bombing of Germany in World War II.