Download Dorothea's War AudioBook Free
In Apr 1915 Dorothea Crewdson, a newly trained Red Mix nurse, and her closest friend, Christie, received instructions to leave for Le Treport in North France. Filled with excitement at the prospect of her first paid job, Dorothea began writing a diary. 'Who knows the length of time we will really be out here? Seems a good chance from all reports of the promotions being ended before winter, but all is uncertain.' Dorothea would go on to see and record some of the most severe tragedy of the First World Battle firsthand, though in some way always keeping her optimism, attention, and high spirits throughout. The internet pages of her diaries sparkle with heat and humour as she represents the day-to-day realities and frustrations of nursing close to the frontline of the battlefields or the pleasure of a lovely sunset or a trip 'joy operating' in the French countryside using one of her precious days off. 1 day she might be gossiping about her fellow nurses or confessing to writing her diary while on change on the ward or illustrating the world of the tents collapsing around them on the windy night in one of her stunning sketches. In another admittance she represents picking shells out of the mattresses on the ward following a terrifying air raid (being successful a medal for her bravery along the way). Nearly 100 years on, what shines out most importantly from the internet pages of these extraordinarily evocative diaries is a courageous, spirited, compassionate young female whose story is made all the more poignant by her tragically early death by the end of the war, right before she was credited to return home. Read by Julia Barrie and Richard Burnip. Launch, footnotes, and supplementary wording (c) Richard Crewdson 2013.
