- Paperback: 688 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reissue edition (30 Jun 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0143039237
- ISBN-13: 978-0143039235
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13.1 x 3.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 518,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Testament Of Youth
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1914 Vera Brittain was 21 years old, and an undergraduate student at Somerville College, Oxford. When war broke out in August of that year, Brittain "temporarily" disrupted her studies to enrol as a volunteer nurse, nursing casualties both in England and on the Western Front. The next four years were to cause a deep rupture in Brittain's life, as she witnessed not only the horrors of war first hand, but also experienced the quadruple loss of her fiancé, her brother, and two close friends. Testament of Youth is a powerfully written, unsentimental memoir which has continued to move and enthral readers since its first publication in 1933. Brittain, a pacifist since her First World War experiences, prefaces the book with a fairy tale, in which Catherine, the heroine, encounters a fairy godmother and is given the choice of having either a happy youth or a happy old age. She selects the latter and so her fate is determined: "Now this woman," warns the tale, "was the destiny of poor Catherine." And we find as we delve deeper into the book that she was the destiny of poor Vera too.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
'Vera Brittain's heart-rending account of the way her generation's lives changed is still as shocking and moving as ever.' (STELLA MAGAZINE, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
'Like the much-misunderstood poppy, Testament both memorializes and warns... to remain uninformed is actually life-threatening.' (TLS )
'it was a surprise to pick her book up now and discover how very good it is.' (Diana Athill THE GUARDIAN )
'sublimely moving... this is a truly great book... should be compulsory reading for the nation's debauched and aimless yobs and yobettes' (Val Hennessy DAILY MAIL )
'essential reading, not just as an anti-war polemic but as a portrait of a whole generation of young people who were totally ill-prepared and whose lives were utterly changed within four momentous years.' (HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW )
'brilliantly captures the protracted horrors of a war into which her generation was preciptated unprepared... as a personal and social document of its turbulent times, written from the viewpoint of a serious and reflective young woman, this autobiographical work fully merits rediscovery.' (CATHOLIC HERALD )
'Everyone should read this book. Like all true classics, it has something to tell us all, one generation after another. And this handsome new edition benefits from photographic illustrations and an elegant preface by Shirley Williams, Vera Brittain's distinguished daughter. If you have tears, prepare to share them now.' (TRIBUNE ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
'Like the much-misunderstood poppy, Testament both memorializes and warns... to remain uninformed is actually life-threatening.' (TLS )
'it was a surprise to pick her book up now and discover how very good it is.' (Diana Athill THE GUARDIAN )
'sublimely moving... this is a truly great book... should be compulsory reading for the nation's debauched and aimless yobs and yobettes' (Val Hennessy DAILY MAIL )
'essential reading, not just as an anti-war polemic but as a portrait of a whole generation of young people who were totally ill-prepared and whose lives were utterly changed within four momentous years.' (HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW )
'brilliantly captures the protracted horrors of a war into which her generation was preciptated unprepared... as a personal and social document of its turbulent times, written from the viewpoint of a serious and reflective young woman, this autobiographical work fully merits rediscovery.' (CATHOLIC HERALD )
'Everyone should read this book. Like all true classics, it has something to tell us all, one generation after another. And this handsome new edition benefits from photographic illustrations and an elegant preface by Shirley Williams, Vera Brittain's distinguished daughter. If you have tears, prepare to share them now.' (TRIBUNE ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
When the Great War broke out, it came to me not as a superlative tragedy, but as an interruption of the most exasperating kind to my personal plans. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
When the Great War broke out, it came to me not as a superlative tragedy, but as an interruption of the most exasperating kind to my personal plans. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you only read one book about the First World War, read this one. The true horror of the war is detailed, and it really makes you think about the loss and sacrifice.
I read this book first of all studying for my History degree,and I have re-read it many times since then.
Vera's life and what happened to her, and her friends has stayed with me always, and I have now encouraged other people to read it too.
I read this book first of all studying for my History degree,and I have re-read it many times since then.
Vera's life and what happened to her, and her friends has stayed with me always, and I have now encouraged other people to read it too.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have just finished reading 'Testament of Youth' and thought you could hardly better the sense of experience, personal and national, that comes out of it. I come to the book from an 'autobiography' background, rather than of 'interest in the war' as such, and therefore to my mind the first two thirds of the book are best where Vera Brittain is conveying her personal experience and responses; I think she is less good in conveying her work for the League of Nations etc. But then, perhaps that is the point of it. As she says a couple of times in the text, these are experiences which I will never be able to overcome. Her courage in picking herself up after the war is fantastic, but you know in your heart that something has been lost in her forever. It was also very nice to read about a Buxton lass. I like Derbyshire & the Dales and I enjoyed the presentation of 'genteel' Buxton and her family and friends.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Vera Brittain effectively conveys the anguish, pain, grief and helplessness of a civilian in times of war in a manner that I have not witnessed in any other account.
Having read this book twice I am not ashamed to admit that I wept on both occasions. I defy anyone to read Vera's biography with dry eyes.
By todays standards her prose may appear old-fashioned but it is extremely elegant and most effective considering her subject matter. The prosaic descriptions of her mental turmoil and sense of hopelessness contrast vividly with her determination and resolve to help alleviate the suffering of the soldiers by joining the nursing establishment at the front. Her inclusion of poems and letters within the text considerably aids the readers understanding of both her personal relationships and state of mind during this period.
Being well versed in the history, and statistics, of the Great War, I found 'Testament of Youth' extremely enlightening in terms of the personal suffering that was endured by individuals like Vera who were forever changed by the experience.
Perhaps, were it a prerequisite for aspiring politicions to read this book, our nations leaders may well find it a lot more difficult to commit a country to war.
This is an important book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Testament of Youth
It was good to re-read this book after many years and I found it just as enthralling and moving as before.
Published 19 days ago by Rev. Shirley Ludlow
Haunting Memoir
I first read this when I was 15 at the time it was serialized on television in 1979. To say that it affected me deeply is an understatement. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Catherine M
A very compelling story, if far too long
The book is 660 pages, & so far I'm less than half way through. I find that the narrative is most compelling when VB just tells her story & more or less lets the events speak for... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Eddie T
Worthy if Wordy
This book is of course inevitably a bit dated. In ways this is perhaps rather unfortunate since it is very wordy by modern standards. Read more
Published 8 months ago by W. Tegner
Vera's legacy to us all
It is extremely difficult to get through this book without splashing the pages with your tears. I mentally clasped the author's hand throughout this tormented autobiography. Read more
Published 10 months ago by garry
an ambitious youth sees the face of death
This is one of the most powerful autobios that I ever read. The author, who went on to become a great journalist and the mother of an important female politician in England... Read more
Published 13 months ago by rob crawford
testament of youth
This is a fantastic read for anyone wanting to know about the First World War and especially a woman's experience of it.
Published 20 months ago by Jennifer M. Palmer
A moving account of love and war
Testament of Youth is an important example of feminist literature, as well as a fascinating first-hand account of the effects World War I had on one woman's life and on society as... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by H. Skinner
Haunting
I first read `A Testament of Youth' thirty years ago in my first term at Oxford and have returned to it at regular intervals ever since. Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2009 by Marand
Heartbreaking Memoirs
I first read this book when studying for my A levels 25 years ago -it totally overpowered me then and now it still does. Read more
Published on 26 July 2009 by Rhiannon
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