'it's not a book, it's a poem, an epic poem... Exemplary' - Jameela Saddiqi 'a most extraordinary war journal' - Susan Jeffreys 'this is not an hysterical woman... you simply cannot dismiss it... profoundly, acutely embarrassing... an insight into the resilience of people in an unknowable situation' - Robert Sandhill 'one of the most powerful books I've ever read...the best money you'll ever spend' - Kate Mosse 'This book, which could have been horrifying, is instead exhilarating: a rare tribute to the human spirit' Nina Bawden, Daily Mail 'A war diary unlike any other... her account is characterised by its courage, its stunning intellectual honesty and by its uncommon powers of observation and perception' Antony Beevor 'One of the most powerful books I've ever read' Kate Mosse 'One of the essential books for understanding war and life' A.S. Byatt