A Very Private Diary

We know so much about Mary’s war because she broke the rules. Keeping a diary was strictly forbidden while on active service, which makes Mary’s remarkably complete account all the more exceptional - DAILY EXPRESS

Throughout it all, Mary’s sense of humour and her high spirits rarely failed … Mary is a talented writer and a humane observer of her remarkable experiences. Her diary is full of vivid, sometimes shocking vignettes … [A] fascinating and deeply moving book - DAILY MAIL

Mary Morris (nee Mulry) was born in County Galway in 1921. After completing her nursing training in London from 1939, she joined the Queen Alexandra Imperial Nursing Service Reserve in 1944. She married Captain Malcolm Morris in London in 1946, and they settled in Britain after the war. Mary later returned to nursing and never stopped writing. She died in 1997, and is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.

Carol Acton is Associate Professor of English, St Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, specialising in war writing, especially autobiographical works. She discovered Mary’s diaries in the Imperial War Museum archives.