Letters from a Lost Generation

Letters from a Lost Generation by Brittain, Vera. Edited by Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780316646642.

Published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Armistice Day, this is a selection of letters, written between 1913 to 1918, between Vera Brittain and four young men - her fiance (Roland Leighton), her brother Edward, and their close friends, Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow. The letters present a portrait of five young people caught up in the cataclysm of total war. Roland, nicknamed "Monseigneur", is the leader, and his letters most clearly trace the path which led from idealism to disillusionment. Edward, known as "Immaculate of the Trenches", was the more orderly and controlled one - even down to his attire. Geoffrey, the "non-militarist at heart", had not rushed to enlist, but felt compelled to put aside his objections to the war for patriotisms sake and volunteer. Victor, on the other hand, had wanted to convince himself that he could take on the mantle of the warrior and become a military hero. Possessed of sweetness of character, he was known to his friends as "Father Confessor".