Mary Russell’s War
Mary Russell’s War (eighteen): the empty home
1 December 1914 Last week, O irony, was Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I returned home for the first time. Dr Ginsberg went with me, and I admit that I was grateful for her company in the car that drove me through the city streets and up the hill. I was braced for the emptiness of the house,…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (seventeen): moats and murders
24 November 1914 The Valley of Fear is a murder mystery set in a moated house. At night, the owner puts up the drawbridge, yet someone gets in and kills him. England is an island. The moats around her, the seas and channels, only appear to protect her. Forty Zeppelins Are Ready for Service. …
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (sixteen): family betrayals
17 November 1914 How do I write about this? My tumbling thoughts were just beginning to settle down, my mind was starting to feel as if it were moving in a forward direction again for the first time since the accident, when…. How can I go on, knowing the deceit of my own parents? Why…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (fifteen): the jack of spades arrives
10 November 1914 I have been neglecting this Journal in recent weeks. Nonetheless, it appears that my life will continue, and Dr. Ginsberg feels that some weekly notation might be of use in the restoration of normal thought. So I shall resume. My family is dead. I, however, am alive. And following the increasing number…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (fourteen): headlines and headaches
(From Mary Russell’s war journal, in the hand of Dr. Leah Ginsberg.) 3 November 1914 This past week saw a relapse in Mary’s state of mind. At first, I and her doctor both feared a return of the infections caused by the dirt in her injuries, and she did admit to headaches. However, when she…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (thirteen): visitors and responsibilities
On a sheet of stationery pinned to the pages of Mary Russell’s journal: 27 October 1914 Mary, because you seem worried that your brain has sustained an injury in the accident, as evidenced by your occasional lapses in memory, I am adding a page here as an aide memoire, that you may read it and reinforce…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (twelve)
From Mary Russell’s WWI diary: 20 October 1914 Dr Ginzberg has been tormenting me to write in this journal. I have considered having one of the nurses carry it to the hospital incinerator, but suspect that if I do so, a fresh volume will appear. The woman is relentless. I have now proven to the…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (eleven): Continuing the record
13 October 1914 [In the hand of Dr Leah Ginzberg.] I write this entry in the journal of Miss Mary Russell, who is currently in no condition to do so herself. A journal records a life, and it should be kept. It is not ten days since the terrible accident that robbed Mary of her…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (ten): Notes from Dr Ginsberg
[On two pieces of lined paper, pinned to the pages of Mary Russell’s wartime journal.] October 7, 1914 Late Saturday night I received a telephone call from Mrs Long, housekeeper to my friend Judith Russell, to say that there had been an accident. I could not understand her at first, but clearly it was something…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War (nine): Gold braid and child snipers
29 September 1914 Catastrophe has struck. It is the end of everything. And I have no one to blame but myself. On Saturday afternoon, at long last, the Parents took Levi and me into their confidence. Too late. The letter Papa received from the War Office concerned his intention to enlist in the American army.…
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