A Very Private Diary: A Nurse in Wartime
Mary Morris
Jul 2014 · Weidenfeld & Nicolson · Narrated by Lara Hutchinson
headphones
Audiobook
9 hr 30 min
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
Want a 56 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
Mary Mulry was eighteen years old when she arrived in London from Ireland to begin training as a nurse. The year was 1939. She had hoped for an adventure and a new start; she could not have predicted what the next seven years would bring.
In this extraordinary diary Mary recorded in intimate detail her experiences as a nurse on the Home Front and later working on the frontline in Europe. In London, she nursed critically ill children during bombing raids and narrowly escaped with her life in one the worst nights of the Blitz. In Normandy, arriving on the heels of the D-Day invasion, she tended to Allied soldiers and German prisoners of war. In war-torn Belgium, she witnessed harrowing casualties from the Battle of Arnhem.
Yet romance, glamour and adventure were never far away for Mary, even if her relationships often had to be cut short. 'I always seem to be saying good-bye to men whom I might have loved had there been enough time,' she writes.
Nurses were not allowed to keep diaries on active service, but Mary - fortunately for us - was not one for following rules. Her rebellious spirit, sharp wit and irrepressible personality shine through the pages of her 'very private diary', published now for the first time.
Read by Lara Hutchinson
(p) 2014 Orion Publishing Group
In this extraordinary diary Mary recorded in intimate detail her experiences as a nurse on the Home Front and later working on the frontline in Europe. In London, she nursed critically ill children during bombing raids and narrowly escaped with her life in one the worst nights of the Blitz. In Normandy, arriving on the heels of the D-Day invasion, she tended to Allied soldiers and German prisoners of war. In war-torn Belgium, she witnessed harrowing casualties from the Battle of Arnhem.
Yet romance, glamour and adventure were never far away for Mary, even if her relationships often had to be cut short. 'I always seem to be saying good-bye to men whom I might have loved had there been enough time,' she writes.
Nurses were not allowed to keep diaries on active service, but Mary - fortunately for us - was not one for following rules. Her rebellious spirit, sharp wit and irrepressible personality shine through the pages of her 'very private diary', published now for the first time.
Read by Lara Hutchinson
(p) 2014 Orion Publishing Group
About the author
Carol Acton is Associate Professor of English, St Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo, Ontario with a research area in war writing, especially autobiographical works. She is the author of GRIEF IN WARTIME: PRIVATE PAIN, PUBLIC DISCOURSE and WORKING IN A WORLD OF HURT, a book on medical personnel, war and trauma with Dr Jane Potter from Oxford Brookes University. She discovered Mary's diaries in the Imperial War Museum archives.
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
