Dorotheas War

the long version

In April 1915, Dorothea Crewdson, a newly trained Red Cross nurse, and her best friend Christie, received instructions to leave for Le Treport in northern France. Filled with excitement at the prospect of this great adventure, she began writing a diary. Over the next four years Dorothea would witness and record some of the worst horror of the Great War, yet somehow she maintained her optimism, curiosity and high spirits throughout. The pages of her diary sparkle with warmth and humour whether she is describing the frustrations of life on the ward, the pleasure of a beautiful sunset, flirtations with the doctors, or a trip 'joyriding' in the countryside on one of her precious days off. By turns intimate, gossipy, charming and moving, these extraordinarily evocative diaries offer a rare glimpse of the heroic work of a nurse in the First World War.