Love, war, duty, faith, betrayal and belief -- a revolutionary new view of the Spanish Civil War through the eyes and experiences of the women who endured it, by the greatest historian of Spain: 'Passionate and deeply moving! when Preston writes about these women, you feel as if you are in their company.' Scotland on Sunday 'Four extraordinary women whose personal histories should dispel any illusions that the Spanish Civil War was an all-male war!Written with a shrewd eye and a sure touch, the book is full of wonderful stories and acute observations. Above all, these are compellingly human dramas in which moral issues, right and wrong, Fascism and Communism, melt away.' Sunday Telegraph The Aristocrat: PIP SCOTT-ELLIS fell in love with a Spanish prince and set off for Madrid in a chauffeur-driven limousine. She ended up nursing in front-line Francoist hospitals. The Communist: NAN GREEN, by contrast, travelled to war third class. Leaving her children behind in England, she went to fight for the International Brigade. The Intellectual: MARGARITA NELKEN was an art critic and novelist, who had translated Kafka into Spanish. Denounced as a whore by the Catholic Right, she became a radical politician. The Fascist: After her husband was killed in the fighting and miscarrying her baby on hearing the news, MERCEDES SANZ-BACHILLER set up a welfare organisation that was to change the face of Spain. 'Preston has harnessed biography to serve history by vividly telling the stories of four very different women whose lives were starkly altered by the conflict! significant, tragic and remarkable' Irish Times

As someone who is fascinated by the Spanish Civil War, and is trying to learn as much as possible about what happened in order to understand my adopted country, especially from the point of view of women, I was excited to read this book. Preston is well known for his extraordinarily thorough research, and his in-depth knowledge of the period, so there’s noone better qualified to write biographies of women involved in the conflict (except perhaps a woman). And there’s no better way to convey what war is like than through personal stories, telling the stories of individual people and how events impacted their lives, as opposed to impersonal political analysis or sweeping overviews. This book looks at the stories of four different women, two English and two Spanish; two left and two right-wing; and their involvement in the brutal war which tore Spain apart in the 1930s.

The first woman is Priscilla (Pip) Scott-Ellis, an aristocratic girl from a wealthy artistic family who falls in love with a Spanish prince and decides, aged 21, to go to Spain to take a job as a nurse in Franco’s hospitals. Luckily for us, Pip kept a diary describing what it was like to live, travel and work in wartime Spain; a tough and cheerful woman, with distant parents who left her to be brought up with governesses, she leads a split life of 42-hour nursing shifts in makeshift hospitals with scant supplies and plagued by illness; and periods of leave spent drinking and dancing all night with her querida. She’s also lucky enough to own a car, rare in those days, given to her by her father. I won’t give away Pip’s fate; suffice to say she is a survivor and an admirable character, whichever side of the political fence you’re on.

Nan Green is a lower-middle-class Communist from Nottingham, whose husband has volunteered to fight with the International Brigades. Nan decides to leave her two children (a wealthy comrade pays for them to go to boarding school) and travel to Spain to work in Republican hospitals. She is also a hardy character, and delights in being able to help the brave men, like her husband, who have come from all over the world to defend Spain from the Fascists. One Spanish women tells Nan, “Before the Republic there wasn’t a pencil in this village, and now all the children go to school. Those men are fighting so that our children can learn.” Nan is blacklisted by the Communist party with its rigid rules, but still manages to be an efficient hospital administrator and morale-raiser, and goes on to become a key figure in raising funds and awareness on behalf of the Republic back in London, as well as living in China for some years.

Of the two Spanish women, Mercedes Sanz-Bachiller is somewhat overshadowed by her husband - a leading Falangist who dies young, leaving her with two children - rather than having her own independent achievements. Having said that, Mercedes uses her influence for laudable ends: her status as his widow allows her to set up a welfare organisation caring for widows and orphans from both sides of the conflict. Margarita Nelken also fights for the downtrodden – landless Andalucian labourers – as a Socialist deputy in parliament. A colourful and provocative orator, she is constantly attacked by both sides for being a woman, a Jew, a foreigner (her parents were German and French-Hungarian) and an unmarried mother. Only someone of considerable grit could have coped with such abuse. Margarita visits the Soviet Union, returning with an idealistic, rose-tinted view of life there; travels around Europe giving morale-raising lecture tours on Spanish art; battles with rival female left-winger, the famous Dolores Ibaburri, La Pasionaria; and ends up exiled in Mexico.

Just as interesting as the women’s stories, gripping and revealing about the treatment and fate of women in wartime and post-war Spain, is Preston’s epilogue. He ties these four intensely moving stories together beautifully, revealing intricate links and coincidences between the four women’s lives – six degrees of separation. Although they had different beliefs and values, all were brave, committed and self-sacrificing. Preston tells us that of the 20,000 books written about the Spanish Civil War, less than 1% are about the role of women in the conflict. I, for one, hope that changes soon, as this book was an engrossing read about some inspiring women who lived through challenging and traumatic times, and were forever marked by the war.

Review by Fiona Flores Watson www.scribblerinseville.com

Fiona is an English journalist who has lived in Andalucia for eight years, where she writes articles and blogs for various websites, magazines and newspapers, reads endlessly about Spain’s culture and history.