Author(s): E. M. Delafield

Fiction

"Amusing and timely, it can only be compared with Jane Austen's best work." -The Atlantic

"E. L. Delafield...has a touch both keen and restrained....For her demure humor and unemphatic clarity of narrative, this young writer may fairly be referred to, if not compared with, the great little Miss Austen." -The Nation

"She satirizes the use of patriotism as a cloak for personal and emotional aims of an altogether different nature." -The Dial

"This is just the cleverly written character sketch one would expect from the pen of Mrs. Henry de la Pasture's daughter. It shows Miss Vivian, the director of the Midland Supply Depot, through the eyes of her family, and of the girls on her force who live in the Hostel for Voluntary Workers of a small English town. The workers think it is wonderful that their chief, who comes from a family of social prominence, is too busy to stop for luncheon and generally eats merely two buns and a penny piece of chocolate, but a new girl suggests that it may be because so many people are looking on. The family doctor says: 'You're playing a heartless trick as any I ever saw, making patriotism the excuse for bully a lot of women who work themselves to death for you because you're of a better class, and have more personality than themselves, and pretending to yourself that it's the work you're after, when it's just because you want to get somewhere where you'll be in the limelight all the time.' Her father has a stroke, but she will not stay at home as her parents request. After his death the girls find this out and decide she must have refused because it would have been too dull to do her obvious duty, and she is reduced in their eyes to the level of an ordinary human being. The book ends when Miss Vivian is beginning to realize that her influence is not strong enough to retain admiration and that the girls no longer work for her but for the country....Incidentally this novel describes vividly the life in one of England's hostels for her army of women workers." -The Survey

"Satirical novel picturing a certain well-known type of woman war-worker." -Publishers Weekly

"Amusing study of a young woman of the modern type who is absorbed in war work....the portrait drawn herein will not fail to remind readers of several women war-workers who do not allow their light to be hidden under a bushel." -Spectator

"With a few deft strokes Miss Delafield outlines a character so as to produce a perfect vignette. 'The War-Workers' is an amusing satire.....Quite merciless in exposing the absurd personal motives which underlie all Miss Vivian's multitudinous activities....By using her characters as mouthpieces for her keen observation and salty humor, the author sketches Miss Vivian as seen through the dazzled eyes of her staff, who chorused, 'Isn't Miss Vivian wonderful?'" -The Independent