Elsie and Mairi Go to War cover art

Elsie and Mairi Go to War

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Elsie and Mairi Go to War

By: Diane Atkinson
Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

When they met at a motorcycle club in 1912, Elsie Knocker was a 30-year-old motorcycling divorcee dressed in bottle-green Dunhill leathers, and Mairi Chisholm was a brilliant 18-year old mechanic, living at home and borrowing tools from her brother. Little did they know that theirs was to become one of the most extraordinary stories of the First World War.

In 1914, they roared off to London 'to do their bit', and within a month they were in the thick of things in Belgium driving ambulances to distant military hospitals. Frustrated by the number of men dying of shock in the back of their vehicles, they set up their own first-aid post on the front line in the village of Pervyse, near Ypres, risking their lives working under sniper fire and heavy bombardment for months at a time.

As news of their courage and expertise spread, the 'Angels of Pervyse' became celebrities, visited by journalists and photographers as well as royals and VIPs. Glamorous and influential, they were having the time of their lives, and for four years, Elsie and Mairi stayed in Pervyse, until they were nearly killed by arsenic gas in the spring of 1918. But returning home and adjusting to peacetime life was to prove even more challenging than the war itself.

©2009 Diane Atkinson (P)2010 Random House Audio
Historical Military Women World War Transportation Belgium
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Australian Heroines of World War One cover art
We Will Remember Them cover art
A Fine Brother cover art
The Quick and the Dead cover art
Franklin and Eleanor cover art
The Leper Spy cover art
The Ambulance Drivers cover art
One Woman's War cover art
Last Post cover art
Dearest Jane cover art
Did You Really Shoot the Television?: A Family Fable cover art
Fighting on the Home Front cover art
The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery cover art
Goodbye to All That cover art
Brothers in War cover art
Anzac Girls cover art

What listeners say about Elsie and Mairi Go to War

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

An amazing life story of two women during the war.

I did not realize till the end that this was a true story, how silly of me! It is a wonderful history of the lives of two women in the first war in Belgium. I was a bit irritated by Patience Tomlinsons verbal quotes but overall she is a great reader. The story evolves well describing the terrible conditions for the two women who just got on with helping and rescuing people with no thought for themselves. I highly recommend this book to learn what the war was really like. Good photos on Wikipedia. At least they were recognized during their lifetime.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Two women whose lives took different paths, after bravely surviving WWI nursing on the front lines. Narration was also good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

Just couldn't get into this at all, I'm afraid the reader's voice just didn't bring it alive for me and I found the pace and style of narration too flat.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!