I am not a fan of women-written non-fiction --- they tend to be too touchy-feely for me. But The Great Silence ---about the end and aftermath of WW I is truly gut wrenching, relating not just what happened, but the people and their backgrounds involved. Did you know there was a Tin Nose Factory? That a doctor named Gillles pioneered the skin graft for burn victims? That victims of the newest war weapons suffered catastrophic injuries that ruined their marriages, frightened their children, and made them reviled? Do you know what a cenotaph is, and the how the Great Silence (the 2 minutes of silence at 11:00 a.m. on 11/11) began? Do you know how the demobilization of millions of soldiers took 2 years, and the unemployment they faced upon their return? Mein Gott! Juliet Nicholson's book is a masterpiece.
