Synopses & Reviews
Mrs Duberly's journal is one of the most vivid eye-witness accounts we have of the Crimean War. Fanny Duberly, then aged 25, accompanied her husband to the Crimea in 1854, and remained there until the end of the fighting, the only officer's wife to remain throughout the entire campaign. She survived the severe winter of 1854-55, witnessed the battle of Balaklava and the charge of the Light Brigade, and rode through the ruins of Sebastopol.
Spirited and courageous, she was known by sight to British and French soldiers across the battlefields, regarded often with enthusiasm and sometimes with disapproval. Witty and beautiful, she enjoyed flirtatious friendships with many of the most important men of the campaign. Her Journal Kept During the Russian War was published in 1855 and caused a sensation. Although widely praised as the "new heroine for the Crimea," Fanny was also censured, ridiculed, and even parodied in Punch. She had stepped into a man's world, and written about it in a way that seemed to some at the front an invasion of privacy and to others at home an abandonment of gentility. A best-seller at the time, the Journal was not reprinted after its second edition of 1856, and this is the first edition since that time.
Christine Kelly provides an introduction, biographical and explanatory notes, and an index. She makes revealing use of Fanny's original, previously unpublished, letters to her sister Selina, which often show a reckless, immediate response to events and people where the journal is more circumspect. The edition includes photographs, maps, and some of Fanny's own sketches.
Review
Christine Kelly has written an excellent introduction, and her edition at last gives Fanny Duberly the recognition she deserves. s
"Gripping. Kelly has done a splendid job in providing background materials and explanatory footnotes."-Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
Review
"
Review from previous edition Christine Kelly has skilfully interpolated Fanny's letters...so that they form a vivid, more outspoken counterpoint to the main narrative."--
Mark Bostridge, TLSUNEDITED UK
Review
"This one should not be missed...[Duberly] knew she had a book in her that would keep her name alive. And she was right."--
John Carey, Sunday Times (Culture)UNEDITED UK
Review
"A vivid, irresistible first-hand account of the Crimean War."--
Sunday TimesUNEDITED UK
Review
Christine Kelly has written an excellent introduction, and her edition at last gives Fanny Duberly the recognition she deserves. s
"Gripping. Kelly has done a splendid job in providing background materials and explanatory footnotes."-Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
Review
Synopsis
Mrs Duberly's journal is one of the most vivid eye-witness accounts we have of the Crimean War. Fanny Duberly, then aged 25, accompanied her husband to the Crimea in 1854, and remained there until the end of the fighting, the only officer's wife to remain throughout the entire campaign. She survived the severe winter of 1854-55, witnessed the battle of Balaklava and the charge of the Light Brigade, and rode through the ruins of Sebastopol.
Spirited and courageous, she was known by sight to British and French soldiers across the battlefields, regarded often with enthusiasm and sometimes with disapproval. Witty and beautiful, she enjoyed flirtatious friendships with many of the most important men of the campaign. Her Journal Kept During the Russian War was published in 1855 and caused a sensation. Although widely praised as the "new heroine for the Crimea," Fanny was also censured, ridiculed, and even parodied in Punch. She had stepped into a man's world, and written about it in a way that seemed to some at the front an invasion of privacy and to others at home an abandonment of gentility. A best-seller at the time, the Journal was not reprinted after its second edition of 1856, and this is the first edition since that time.
Christine Kelly provides an introduction, biographical and explanatory notes, and an index. She makes revealing use of Fanny's original, previously unpublished, letters to her sister Selina, which often show a reckless, immediate response to events and people where the journal is more circumspect. The edition includes photographs, maps, and some of Fanny's own sketches.
About the Author
Christine Kelly read History at Trinity College, Dublin, and now lives in Oxford. An authority on the Crimean War, she took part in a recent British public television program on the campaign.
Table of Contents
List of Maps and Illustrations
Editor's Introduction
Note on the Text
Editor's Note and Author's Preface, 1855
1. The Voyage (April-May 1854)
2. Embarkation and Encampment at Varna (June-August 1854)
3. The Expedition to the Crimea (September-October 1854)
4. Balaklava (October-November 1854)
5. Balaklava (December 1854-March 1855)
6. The Camp (March-July 1855)
7. The Fall of Sebastopol (July-September 1855)
Notes and Commentary
Biographical Notes
Appendix 1: How the War Began
Appendix 2: The Battle of Balaklava
Further Reading
Index