TESTAMENT OF EXPERIENCE

by Vera Brittain ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 1957

A companion piece to her unforgettable Testament of Youth of which we said- in 1933- ""An extraordinary human document- and a side of the war years which, up to this time, has not been adequately presented, the side of youth and womanhood and a life broken in two by personal loss and the seal of tragedy.....Although essentially English...there is a great basic truth that gives it universality...Good for the long haul."" How well this prophecy has been fulfilled, for Testament of Youth has gone through nineteen editions.... Now- twenty five years later, Vera Brittain gives us the second quarter century and a second world war, through the experience of a woman, seasoned in the crucible of fame and ""humiliation with honor"" and weighing the values and the price in the scales of human life. For in those years she married- a marriage that proved the possibility of two mature and reasoning people combining conflicting careers and parenthood, in years that tested them wholly; she wrote- and faced the two extremes of rejection and best sellerdom; she lived in two worlds, England and the United States; she became identified- and pilloried thereby- with the Peace Pledge Union, founded by the memorable humanitarian, Dick Sheppard; she worked for Food Relief; she travelled widely and spoke in many parts of the world. And she suffered, in spirit, in mind, in body, the travails of war brought sharply home to every Briton. Different generations will find different meanings in this autobiography; no one will find it without significance.

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION