Helena Gleichen, Queen Victoria's great-niece and cousin to
George V, gives the lie to the belief that Victorian women were
meek, submissive and led restricted lives.
A passionate horsewoman and successful artist, the
autobiographical anecdotes in the earlier part of the book are
lively and amusing.
The longer second section gives a detailed account of how
she and Nina Hollings, her long-term companion and sister of
the composer and suffragette Ethel Smyth, raised and manned
one of the first mobile X-Ray units to be used by the British
in World War I - Marie Curie was organizing the French
radiography service - for which they both received numerous
decorations.
Helena Gleichen paints a vivid picture of the war in Italy,
which tends to be little remembered compared to the Western
Front, and above all gives an extremely interesting account
of how the X-ray Unit was set up and operated, and the
considerable impact it had on the treatment and survival rate
of the wounded.
