GREAT READS

Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front

Diane Atkinson.

Elsie and Mairi were extraordinary woman. They met at a motorcycle club in 1912 in England. In 1914 they took off for London to "do their bit" for the war effort. Eighteen-year-old Mairi and thirty-year-old Elsie left for Belgium in September 1914 and were sent to the front. There they drove ambulances and set up their own first-aid post.

Their story is well documented from diaries, family papers, photographs and interviews with decendants. Much material was found in England's Imperial War Museum.

The author specializes in women's history and has an interest in World War I. Anyone interested in both subjects or would like a more intimate look at this period of history will revel in this story.

Aat war's end, the role of women in British society was to prove more challenging for these two remarkable women than even the war itself. This is a facinating, humanizing depiction of two neglected World War I heroines.

Recommended by Ruth Ann Johnson