• Letters from the Little Blue Room
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Letters from the Little Blue Room

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"A new and unique voice and an important addition to the canon of literature of the First World War." – Prof. Angela K. Smith, author of Women's Writing of the First World WarA 'lost' women's class...
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  • 01 October 2024
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"A new and unique voice and an important addition to the canon of literature of the First World War." – Prof. Angela K. Smith, author of Women's Writing of the First World War

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.


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Price: $25.00
Pages: 230
Publisher: Barbican Press
Imprint: Barbican Press
Publication Date: 01 October 2024
Trim Size: 8.00 X 5.00 in
ISBN: 9781909954489
Format: Hardcover
BISACs: HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War I, First World War, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Scotland, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Letters, Diaries, letters & journals, Feminism & feminist theory, True war & combat stories
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"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
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