Day eight of the ‘advent calendar’ focusing on some of the historical/genealogical sources that I used in the writing of Barefoot on the Cobbles.

To gain a better understanding of life as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, I re-read Vera Brittain’s Chronicle of Youth and Testament of Youth. Of course Vera is very much middle-class and Daisy and Winnie’s childhoods would have been very different. In addition, much of Vera’s service was overseas and my nurses were in Torquay but it was still useful to gain and insight into the training and duties. Unexpectedly, I was also able to make use of these books, to immerse myself in language and turns of phrase of the early twentieth century. This threw up the issue of whether or not Daisy and Winnie would have addressed each other by their christian names. In Vera Brittain’s world, the ladies waited for permission before abandoning Miss ……. . I decided that this might be different for young, working-class women, so it was ‘Daisy’ and ‘Winnie’ from the outset.

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