Kathryn Ecclestone: Vera Brittain’s Early Life – A Different Story

Feminist and pacifist Vera Brittain condemned her cosseted upbringing in the fashionable spa town of Buxton between 1905 and 1915 with remorseless fervour. Previous portrayals have failed to appreciate how this period shaped Brittain, a complicated, unusual young woman who became one of the 20th century’s most important literary and political figures. Her family connections with the Holehird Estate at Windermere also gave her a deep love of the Lake District.

Book: Testament of Lost Youth,  Pen and Sword