Vera Brittain And The First World War: The Story Of Testament Of Youth

Author: Mark Bostridge

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $29.99 AUD
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  • : 9781472918574
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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  • : 0.315
  • : December 2014
  • : 216mm X 135mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 29.99
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Mark Bostridge
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  • : Paperback
  • : Export/Airside ed
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  • : 828.91209
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  • :
  • : 272
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Barcode 9781472918574
9781472918574

Description

Vera Brittain and the First World War tells the remarkable story of the author behind Testament of Youth whilst charting the book's ascent to become one of the most loved memoirs of the First World War period. Such interest is set to expand even more in this centenary year of the war's outbreak. In the midst of her studies at Oxford when war broke out across Europe, Vera Brittain left university in 1915 to become a V.A.D (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse, treating soldiers in London, Malta and Etaples in France. The events of the First World War were to have an enormous impact on her life. Four of Brittain's closest friends including her fianc Roland Leighton and her brother Edward Brittain MC were killed in action, sparking a lifelong commitment to pacifism. In 1933 she published Testament of Youth, the first of three books dealing with her experience of war. In equal measures courageous, tragic and deeply fascinating, Testament of Youth is one of the most compelling and important works of war literature ever to have been written by a British woman. Mark Bostridge's Vera Brittain and the First World War, published to coincide with the film of Testament of Youth, explores the effects of the First World War on Vera Brittain, both in terms of her personal life and in terms of its effect on her development as a writer and her eventual decision to become a pacifist. Taking advantage of the interest generated by the film, it will bring her story to a new generation and incorporate the most up-to-date research. It will also include a short essay 'From Book to Film', describing the process of turning Testament of Youth into a major feature film. This will include interviews with the production staff and actors, as well as with members of Vera Brittain's family, including Shirley Williams. The film, which has been scripted by Juliette Towhidi and is being produced by BBC Films and Heyday Films, the makers of Harry Potter, is currently in production. Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina) stars as Brittain, with Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Pompeii) playing her fianc Roland Leighton.

Promotion info

As the much anticipated film adaptation of Vera Brittain's First World War testimony Testament of Youth arrives in cinemas in January 2015 this new book from Mark Bostridge (her biographer) tells the story of a remarkable woman and her extraordinary account of the destructive power of war.

Author description

Mark Bostridge's books include Vera Brittain: A Life, shortlisted for the Whitbread Biography Prize, the NCR Award for Non-Fiction and the Fawcett Prize, the bestselling Letters from a Lost Generation, Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend, awarded the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography, andThe Fateful Year: England 1914.