I have tried to write the exact truth as I saw and see it about both myself and other people, since a book of this kind has no value unless it is hon… - Vera Brittain

The fact that his highly respected old friend regarded the presence of women at Oxford as in no way remarkable undoubtedly caused him to revise his opinion on the whole subject of the higher education of daughters.

I am writing this in front of an open casement window overlooking the sea. The sky is cloudless, and the russet sails of the fishing smacks flame in the sun. It is summer but it is not war; and I dare not look at it. It only makes me angry with myself for being here — and with the others for being content to be here. When men whom I have once despised as effeminate are being sent back wounded from the front, when nearly everyone I know is either going or has gone, can I think of this with anything but rage and shame?

It is still difficult to realise that the moment has actually come at last when 1 shall have no peace of mind any more until the War is over.