A 'lost' women's classic from World War I - discovered in the rare books room of the British Library, last seen in 1917!
A Scottish woman sends funny, moving, compassionate and rousing letters to her younger brother, set to fight with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the trenches of WWI. Dunfermline, her hometown and the base for the Scottish regiment The Black Watch, morphs into an active home front.
Letter by letter we watch the war unfolding. Her brother trains with his cavalry regiment on England's Salisbury Plain and moves to frontline duty in France. Shocked by the war and those who inflame it, the sister's letters are frank and also encouraging. Others are vanishing. She needs her brother, her young Canadian, to survive. Complete with an introduction, a closing biography, and original photographs of the author and the period.
""Daisy Thomson Gigg creates a voice as alive and open, fresh and engaged as when she sat at the little round table, beneath the red-shaded lamp more than a century ago, writing to her Boy, determined to keep his spirits up and remind him of home....
Hers represents a new and unique voice and an important addition to the canon of literature of the First World War."" Angela K. Smith, author of Women's Writing of the First World War
By:
Daisy Thomson Gigg
Imprint: Barbican Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 203mm,
Width: 127mm,
ISBN: 9781909954489
ISBN 10: 1909954489
Pages: 220
Publication Date: 08 January 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
"Introduction 11 Letters from the Little Blue Room 15 1. On Returning from Holidays – Nice and Otherwise 17 2. War-Conditions in our Town 22 3. The Regulars – Personality v. Money 26 4. ""The Myriad-Handed Murder of Multitudes"" 30 5. To Valcartier Concentration Camp, Quebec 35 6. To Salisbury Plain 38 7. Memories 41 8. Our Boys – Part of the Battle 45 9. Women and War. – The Pride of the British Army 49 10. On Friendship and Tolerance. – Enter Bettetina 56 11. Passion – ""A Temple Pure"" 62 12. On Disillusionment 66 13. Functions 70 14. Spring. – Great-Grandmother Eve. – ""Ours!"" 75 15. Enter Pilot Me II 80 16. The Hump – And A Cure 91 17. ""Ours!"" Again – ""The Seventh's Farewell"" 96 18. Heroism And Heroes 100 19. A Thrashing from God 104 20. Snobs. – National Anthems – On Going Abroad 108 21. Wire to Southampton, July 3rd, 1915 113 22. An Old Maid's Family 114 23. Army v. Navy 121 24. Morality or ""Usualness"" 126 25. Trees. – The Ink of Fools 129 26. A Creed – Poverty. – Lives Of Great Men 134 27. Birthday Reflections – and a Message 138 28. Another Crusader Goes Forth. – Happiness. – The Gleam 142 29. Bettetina Stays. – ""Bread and Roses."" – ""Not Fallen"" 147 30. On Christmas Things. – Toys 151 31. Too Young! – Bettetina's Tastes. – The Poor Press 156 32. ""Nuts"" – 1915 160 33. The Pride of The British Army Goes Out. – A Prayer. – ""Resolve"" 165 34. That First Morning Feeling. – On Men's and Women's Giving. – Symbols 169 35. On Art – High and Otherwise 173 36. Hard Lines! 178 37. On ""Moral"" Writers – The Darkened Streets. – Shortage Of Paper 184 38. Spring Comes Again 189 39. Wire 193 40. On Death 194 41. On Life 197 42. On Going Into Action 200 43. In Hospital – Harry Passes 204 44. A Hero Without A Halo – Mrs. St. Clair Stobart’s Message To Women 207 Afterword 212 Acknowledgements 221 Notes 222"
Daisy Thomson Gigg (1885-1953) was born in Brooklyn, New York . At the age of four she moved to Scotland with her Scottish family, settling in the town of Dunfermline. Letters from the Little Blue Room was her first book, published anonymously in . 1916, followed by a book of short stories, The Call. Styling herself 'a fiction writer' she emigrated back to the USA in 1921. Marrying a fellow novelist and farmer she settled in Penrose, Colorado, where she continued writing stories and being active in the suffragette movement.
Reviews for Letters from the Little Blue Room: An Intimate Portrait of World War I
""A compelling read. Daisy Thomson Gigg creates a voice as alive and open, fresh and engaged as when she sat at the little round table, beneath the red-shaded lamp more than a century ago, writing to her Boy, determined to keep his spirits up and remind him of home. Her Scottish identity resonates in every sentence, her political idealism, compassion and love shine out even on her darkest days. Hers represents a new and unique voice and an important addition to the canon of literature of the First World War."" – Angela K. Smith, author of Women's Writing of the First World War ""Letters of an ordinary woman living in a country town where only a tributary of the broad war-stream flows, to a young brother who came over with the first Canadian contingent to serve in “the war to end war.” They do not aim at being clever nor deep, but are just plain letters—bits of gossip, comments on all manner of subjects, little bits of advice and cheer, and a fair share of humor. A fascinating human document."" – The Herald, from 1917
