When Barbara Davies went to Russia on a newspaper assignment, she met Lieutenant Valinsky and her world was turned upside down. Fascinated by the simplicity of his existence in a freezing winter, she embarked on an affair with him, determined to turn her back on her old life forever. But she had to confront the differences between their worlds.

This is the story of a very modern love affair written down by a mother for her child. Barbara Davies, globe-trotting tabloid journalist, had a life many women would envy. But behind the successful, exciting career lay a tattered love-life which left her feeling empty and unfulfilled. Deep down, she was haunted by the fear that the things which really mattered -- enduring love and motherhood -- would lay forever out of reach. Then one day, she was sent to Russia on an assignment for the Daily Mirror. There, she met Lieutenant Dmitry Andreyevich Valinsky and her world was turned upside down. Overwhelmed by his physical beauty and the harsh simplicity of his day-to-day existence in a freezing Russian winter, she embarked on a whirlwind, passionate affair with him, determined to turn her back on her old life forever.Honest, poignant and often uplifting, this stunning book reflects on the complexities of love and how one chance meeting can change everything.

Tatiana L. Dubinskaya’s autobiographical novel of life in the Russian army marked the first major work published by a female World War I soldier in the Soviet Union. Often compared to All Quiet on the Western Front, Dubinskaya’s stark and unsparing story presents a rare look at women in combat and one of the few works of fiction set on the eastern front. Zinaida, a Russian schoolgirl, runs away from home to join the army. Sent to the front, she endures the horrors of trench warfare and the hardships of military life. Undercurrents of revolutionary thinking filter into the ranks as morale begins to crumble. Zinaida must come to grips with the havoc unleashed by the czar’s overthrow and the new socialist government’s attempts to impose revolutionary reforms on the army. Destabilization and desertion follow, and her regiment joins the chaotic mass retreat of the Russian army in the summer of 1917. In addition to Dubinskaya’s original novel, this edition includes selections from her 1936 autobiographical work, Machine Gunner, which she rewrote to satisfy Stalinist censors.

One of the earliest known autobiographies by a woman, this is the extraordinary tale of Catalina de Erauso, who in 1599 escaped from a Basque convent dressed as a man and went on to live one of the most wildly fantastic lives of any woman in history. A soldier in the Spanish army, she traveled to Peru and Chile, became a gambler, and even mistakenly killed her own brother in a duel. During her lifetime she emerged as the adored folkloric hero of the Spanish-speaking world. This delightful translation of Catalina's own work introduces a new audience to her audacious escapades.

Like Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation, " Sorel's moving account of the women war correspondents of this century at last brings to light the exploits of more than 100 of this country's unsung heroes. of photos.