ISBN 921870-61-2   6 x 9 300 pp, with photos $18.95 Non-Fiction Memoirs, History, Women's Studies

In these Red Cross memoirs, some 30 women tell their stories of volunteer work with the Canadian Red Cross Corps in overseas postings during World War Two and the Korean War. These dramatic narratives take us across oceans infested with enemy submarines to witness Canadian women on duty in the U.K., in Europe and in Asia. The volunteers shouldered challenging and often dangerous jobs, working as nurse's aides, ambulance drivers, welfare officers, cooks, transport drivers and in the social clubs Canadian soldiers visited on leave. We learn how it feels to survive daily bombings and severe food shortages, to witness death and destruction all around, and to acquire the spirit and courage exhibited by so many "ordinary" people during the war. Laced with humour and filled with grace, these stories are a testament to the vital yet often overlooked responsibilities that thousands of women gallantly accepted for the Allied war effort. Women Overseas is a companion volume to the national bestseller Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories. It contains many period photographs as well as an illuminating introduction to the Canadian Red Cross Corps.

Frances Martin Day, herself a member of the Red Cross Corps, was instrumental in first collecting these memoirs. Working closely with her are editors Phyllis Spence and Barbara Ladouceur, who are well known for their bestseller Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories (Ronsdale 1995), which is now in its third printing. The three editors live in Victoria and Vancouver.