Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women On the Western Front [Import] [Hardcover]

Diane Atkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2009

This is the remarkable story of two brave and charismatic women, the only women to nurse on the Front line in the First World War. Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisolm were decorated with seventeen medals for bravery and self-sacrifice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the heady days preceding WWI, two thrill-seeking motorcycle enthusiasts chucked their comfortable lives to join a small group of British women providing medical care on the Belgian front lines. Atkinson (Suffragettes in Pictures) utilizes wartime journals, interviews, family genealogies, and a sanctioned contemporary biography to give life to the pair of spirited friends who displayed extraordinary courage and plenty of attitude. Elsie Knocker, 30, was a divorced mother of one, and a trained midwife from a unconventionally broad-minded middle-class background; Mairi Gooden-Chisholm was an upper-class Scottish teenager. Together they found their calling in Pervyse, Belgium, as they drove packed frontline ambulances and nursed wounded soldiers in the midst of shelling and gravely unhygienic conditions. Elsie, unimpressed with visiting Marie Curie, who had created a mobile X-ray unit, effectively employed new, and potentially life-saving, methods of treating the soldiers for shock with simple rest, warmth, and comfort before shipping them to hospitals,. The startling end of the women's friendship remains the subject of speculation. And though the lack of footnotes is lamentable, , Atkinson details the gritty effects of trench warfare while fully celebrating the exploits of two intensely linked young women who benefited hundreds of lives. 14 pages of photos. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In 1914 Elsie Knocker (divorced with one son) and Mairi Chisholm (18 and still living at home) were madcap motorbikers. With the outbreak of the war, they joined England's Women's Emergency Corps, then were recruited for the Flying Ambulance Corps, whose mission was to help Belgian soldiers. The corps was a motley crew—three other women, some doctors, cooks, and medical orderlies—each bringing unique skills to the task of transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefield to hospitals. For several years they were posted at Pervyse, a bombed-out Belgian village, where they were known as the Heroines of Pervyse, and they were nearly killed in a gas attack in March 1918. Atkinson, a historian specializing in women's history, pieces together their remarkable four-year adventure from diaries, notices in the British and worldwide press, Elsie's autobiography, and interviews with the two women taped in the 1970s. In spite of all their mutual adventures, Elsie and Mairi never saw each other again after the armistice was signed. Now Atkinson reunites them as she brings their story vividly to life. --Deborah Donovan --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Preface Publishing (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848091338
• ISBN-13: 978-1848091337
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,621,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good subject, less than stellar writing, August 17, 2010

By 

Laura Gifford "llhope" (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front (Hardcover)

Elsie and Mairi Goes to War had the potential to be a great read as the subject matter is interesting and exciting. However the author writes more like she is writing a dissertation rather than a book. The story is disjointed and frequently rather confusing, with a number of detours into largely irrelevant directions. I don't regret reading it, but I can't recommend it.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting read of friendship, fame, and living against the grain, September 11, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front (Hardcover)

Time is the most valuable resource in saving lives. "Elsie & Mairi Go to War" tells the story of Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, two women with an unusual for the time love of motorcycles and how they set up their own first aid stations near the front lines, placing their own lives on the line in the process. Gaining fame for their heroism, returning to normal life wasn't easy. "Elsie & Mairi Go to War" is an exciting read of friendship, fame, and living against the grain.