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

by Virginia Nicholson

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0141020628
• ISBN13: 9780141020624
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully written

Elegantly written, warm-hearted and thoughtful. An account of the lives of early twentieth century 'spinsters'. A great pleasure and highly recommended.

A Real Eye Opener

This book was a purchase I made because I read many books on WWI. I thought it would be really interesting to find out how women of similar age got on without a naturally balanced number of men around. The book traces many different women throughout their lives, both before, during and after the war. Although I got quite a few weird looks from my girlfriend whilst I was reading this book, the book met my expectations but I also found the stories somewhat sad. The author points out stories of several women who lost men very close to them during WWI. Some of these women never married or even dated after the war!!! That seems like a very lonely existence that these women could do very little to change without major interruptions to their lives (and by major I mean leaving the U.K. and your family behind to go elsewhere in the Commonwealth to find a mate). On another note, I liked the fact that many of these women had cats as companions; something to which I can relate. The contributions many of these women made to improving the rights of women in the U.K. or changing society's impression of "spinsters" was phenomenally impressive.

The Women Left Behind by the Lost Generation

Nowadays, many women are single either by chance or by choice. We marry later, we marry for love, we marry not at all. Men are around, but they may not be "the one," or are unsuitable for various reasons. Women may decide to concentrate on career, or may have been born with a different genetic makeup. Singled Out is about an entire generation of British women who, whether they wanted marriage or not, were destined to remain single due to the loss of over a million men within their own age group. Their stories are as varied as they are numerous. Many were engaged, only to lose their beloveds at the Front; some never even had a chance to meet that special someone. In some cases, the Great War gave women opportunities that they never would have dreamed of in other circumstances. Archeologists, stockbrokers and scientists abound within these pages. Lesbians found that they were able to live a bit more openly, too, due to the common occurrence of (and thus fewer raised eyebrows over) women needing to room together for financial and companionship reasons. Nearly every family in Britain lost someone in the Great War; this is how the women left behind picked up the pieces and moved forward without their men. Because of the sheer volume of stories, the narrative can become a bit confusing at times (I would go back occasionally to remind myself about whom I was reading), but the stories were so compelling on the whole that I now wish to read more about their experiences. Vera Brittain, especially, presents a fascinating life story.

A glimpse of history

Although the "all anecdote" format makes the reading a bit choppy, this is a worthwhile glimpse into a slice of history. So many social changes took place due to the loss of men during the "Great War:" women's entrance into the workplace, the professions, politics, as well as the beginning of the breakdown of social class lines, entitlement to old age pensions, and above all, the ability of women to be happy outside the traditional "wife and mother" role. Yes, this book is about England, but it's still worth a read to look back less than 100 years and see how far we've come in what is, after all, a relatively short time.