A Woman's Experiences in the Great War


Read by Expatriate

(4.8 stars; 12 reviews)

An eye-witness account of the fall of Antwerp to the Germans in the opening months of World War I, Mack’s story has passages of extraordinary vividness and immediacy. Flawed by the most treacly sentiment in some places and the most ferocious anti-German invective in others, her account endures as an uncommonly forthright, passionate testimony to those tragic events and the ordinary people who were the true heroes of them. As a forty-something, coquettish war correspondent wrapped in sable furs and speaking French in her native Australian accent, she seems to have inspired amusement in some observers, but her courage in the face of wartime brutality bordered on suicidal effrontery, as she insisted time after time on having a vantage-point in the most dangerous places at the most dangerous times. Perhaps over-generous to the “little” Belgians (who had not long before this been perpetrators of hideous imperial atrocities themselves), she is able to be honest even about those she admires most, pointing out, for example, the appalling number of spies among the Belgian population and the foibles of those who claimed to be its leaders. There are startling moments in this book, riveting details that could only have been recorded by an eyewitness as audacious and authentic as Mack, no matter her sentimental biases. - Summary by Expatriate (6 hr 12 min)

Chapters

Chapter 01 7:40 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 02 11:05 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 03 11:23 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 04 10:53 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 05 8:39 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 06-07 3:15 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 08 8:32 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 09-10 17:40 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 11-12 12:14 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 13-15 15:09 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 16-18 21:26 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 19-22 19:00 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 23-25 17:07 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 26-28 17:02 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 29-31 20:47 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 32-35 21:37 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 36-40 17:57 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 41-42 12:15 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 43 19:07 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 44-45 21:16 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 46-47 15:55 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 48-50 24:53 Read by Expatriate
Chapter 51 18:48 Read by Expatriate
Chapters 52-53 18:48 Read by Expatriate

Reviews

a vivid and well written first person account of WW1


(5 stars)

I enjoyed listening to this. It is well read and really quite gripping. Highly recommended!

Because...


(0 stars)

Because it's a book I wanted very much to read. And I'm a man. It's not complicated. There's nothing to stop a woman reader from adding her recording to the catalog. That would be excellent. The experiences described in this book are deeply human ones that touch us all. I read it as a human being who wanted to understand the experiences of another human being. That's all. Thank you for your question.

why not a male reader ?


(0 stars)

Are you saying it should only be read by a female Australian? Whose lived in Belguim in 1914 ?