Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived without Men After the First World War

by VirginiaNicholson (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $3.25

  The First World War deprived Britain of three-quarters of a million soldiers, with as many more incapacitated. In 1919 a generation of women who unquestioningly believed marriage to be their birthright discovered that there were, quite simply, not enough men to go round. The press ran alarming stories about the 'Problem of the Surplus Women - Two Million who can never become Wives ...'. But behind the headlines were thousands of brave, emancipated individuals forced by a tragedy of historic proportions to rethink their entire futures. Tracing their fates, Virginia Nicholson shows how the single woman of the inter-war decades had to stop depending on men for her income, her identity and her happiness. Some just endured, others challenged the conventions, fought the system and found fulfilment. Singled Out pays homage to this remarkable generation of women who were changed by war, and in their turn helped change society.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $16.83

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $12.52

  Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out is the touching and beautifully told story of the women who were left alone after World War I - a remarkable generation of women who were changed by war; and in their turn helped change society. In 1919 a generation of young women discovered that there were, quite simply, not enough men to go round, and the statistics confirmed it. After the 1921 Census, the press ran alarming stories of the 'Problem of the Surplus Women - Two Million who can never become Wives...'. This book is about those women, and about how they were forced, by a tragedy of historic proportions, to stop depending on men for their income, their identity and their future happiness. This is a ground-breaking book, richly nuanced with titbits of information, insight and understanding . ( Daily Mail ). Remarkably perceptive and well-researched...Virginia Nicholson has produced another extraordinarily interesting work, sensitive, intelligent and well-written . ( Sunday Telegraph ). This in an inspiring book, lovingly researched, well-written and humane ...the period is beautifully caught . ( Economist ). Brave, humane and honest . ( Observer ). Virginia Nicholson was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She has worked as a documentary researcher for BBC Television and her first book, Charleston - A Bloomsbury House and Garden (written in collaboration with her father, Quentin Bell), was an account of the Sussex home of her grandmother, the painter Vanessa Bell. Her second book, Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939 , was published by Penguin in 2002. She lives in Sussex.