Introduction: "Still I Feel I Did My Duty" : Diary of an English Governess, 1916-1919 -- Historical Background: Life in an Occupied City : Brussels -- Framing the Diary : A Note from the Editors -- Mary Thorp's Diary -- Part 1. No "Eleventh Hour" : September 1916-February 1917 -- Part 2: "Qui Vivra Verra" : March-December 1917 -- Part 3: "We Still Hear the Same Eternal Cannon" : January-October 1918 -- Part 4. "The Book of Peace!!!" : October 1918-January 1919 -- Epilogue: "Quite Nice to Be Remembered" -- Appendix: Thorp Family Tree
Summary
Mary Thorp, an English governess working for a Belgian-Russian family in German-occupied Brussels, kept a secret war diary from September 1916 to January 1919. This long-forgotten diary sheds light on an important aspect of the First World War: civilian life under military occupation in a transnational conflict