Letters from the Little Blue Room

A 'lost' women's classic from World War 1, published for the first time since 1916.

Letters from the Little Blue Room is a powerful sequence of letters from 1914-1916, from a Scottish

woman to her younger brother, who was returning to Europe as part of the Canadian

Expeditionary Force, to fight in the trenches of WW1.

Published anonymously, this edition reveals the identity of the author, the Scottish-American

writer Daisy Thomson Giggs.

She is writing from Dunfermline, the hometown of Andrew Carnegie and the base of the Black

Watch regiment. Her letters bristle with humour, advice, wisdom drawn from poetry and essays,

and poignant tales of life and characters on the home front. It builds toward an utterly moving

climax.

A foreword by Professor Angela K. Smith sets the book in the context of other women writers of

the period. An afterword by Martin Goodman, emeritus professor of Creative Writing at the

University of Hull, adds true biographical detail to the characters met in the book, including the

author. Footnotes help readers grasp the contemporary details that fuel the real-time

storytelling.

This is a strong addition to War Studies, Women's Studies, and the history of Canadian

involvement in WW1. It also brings a powerful Scottish-American author to global attention.

Very much based on true-life observations and the unfolding narrative of the war, Letters from

the Little Blue Room also displays the power of a 20th century master of fiction.