The thrilling, gripping and often painfully moving voices of those women who served alongside men in the Second World War – but were never called soldiers because they were women. Tessa Dunlop captures with verve, sensitivity and humour the indomitable spirit, the hardships and the emotion of these young women, many of them sheltered young girls, thrown overnight into the brutality of total war.

Wise, witty, compassionate and personal: Tessa Dunlop writes just the best kind of history about women.

You’ll feel the shock of finding these amazing characters are still among us – I was gripped from the first page.

A fascinating and joyful read. It brushes aside simplistic myths about World War 2, uncovers the forgotten stories of women who served on the front line and makes us see British women’s experience of war as it must really have been – messy, intense, sometimes absurd and very often heroic.

It’s been marvellous to read

Army Girls… is an extraordinary insight into the women who served in the Second World War.

[a] moving account of 17 surviving veterans… Dunlop has brought the female military experience to life

There were 290,000 women who supported the army in the ATS during the Second World War. Army Girls lets their voices shine through, and is the perfect tribute to the lives and achievements of these women.

A brilliant, moving and at times funny book.

very compelling… All of the interviewees seem to be speaking from the heart

Dunlop’s voice as a narrator emerges throughout the book: the interviews and letters mingle and interact beautifully with the author’s insights on gender, class and race.