Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith

Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith

This story offers a rare, funny, bitter, feminist look at war from women actively engaged in it. Published in London in 1930, Not So Quiet...(on the Western Front) is a novel in autobiographical guise that describes a group of British women ambulance drivers on the French front lines during World War 1. As Voluntary Aid Detachment workers, the women pay for the privilege of driving the wounded through shell fire in the freezing cold, on no sleep and an inedible diet, under the watchful eye of their punishing commandant, nicknamed Mrs. Bitch.

This book was assigned to me for the women and gender studies course I had to drop from last semester due to work overload, but I had been really eager to read it when I first got it. Fortunately, I got the pleasure to finally sit down with it while flying home, and coincidentally back to school.

It's one of those grittier war books where you just know the main character shall either be dead, or all her friends will be and the journey that it takes to get there will be godawful. This summary was entirely accurate for what the book tells the story of, so I'd suggest finding something lighter to read on the side, or you'll be in a dark mood for the better part of a day.