Not Just a Soldier's War

the long version

Poverty, factory work and union activism have filled Lu Wilmott with a determination to widen her horizons. The call to Spain, burdened by Civil War, is irresistible: she can be useful, live up to her ideals and be the woman she's always wanted to be. Signing up, Lu breaks the last link with her past and becomes Eve ... As one of the few women in charge of heavy vehicles, her work takes her close to those of many nationalities, but it is with Spain, its people and its struggle against Franco that she falls in love. Here, worlds away from her former life, Eve encounters an old flame - but there is little room in her new life for romance ... In the crucible of war - extremes of death and disease, fear and chaos - a formidable woman of great strength is forged from the basic elements of the spirited, naive girl who left Portsmouth.