Vera Brittain is one of the 20^th century’s most significant feminist and pacifist figures. Her 1933 best-selling First World War memoir, Testament of Youth, is acclaimed as one of the most important autobiographies of the last 100 years.

Testament of Lost Youth is the first book to examine Vera’s cossetted middle-class upbringing in Buxton between 1905 and 1915.  Drawing on Vera’s own diary, letters and a wealth of historical sources, Kathryn uncovers the hidden layers of Vera’s privileged early life, challenging traditional portrayals to shed new light on the unique social atmosphere of Edwardian Buxton, Vera’s schooling and experience of university, her family, social and love life, before a harrowing journey through the First World War, where she lost her fiancé, adored brother and many friends and acquaintances.