Anita Leslie appeared at the beginning of the book to be a typical girl from a rich family in the 1930s. She initially reminded me of the Mitford sisters, however, she was made of different stuff. She spent her war as a trained mechanic and ambulance driver, in Egypt to begin with, then Italy and in France. Her book first published in 1948 gives a first hand account of the fighting with the French as they travelled through France as liberators and then conquerors. She identifies the different feelings generated, the different characteristics of different nationalities and it is a wry look at the results of war. I enjoyed the humour which balanced some of the bleaker scenes that are described. The social history that is depicted is fascinating. I am reminded of Vera Britten's "Testament of Youth" in that both describe the cruelty and futility of war and the way in which women who wished to actively contribute were treated by their male allies and society in general. A good read which I will recommend to others and discuss whenever possible.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this - very enjoyable......and one I shall keep on my reading list.

I really enjoyed this book. As the teacher in charge of stocking the senior school library, I like to ensure that the books are diverse and the students are exposed to both excellent fiction and excellent modern non-fiction. I think that this is both a fascinating and well-written book that has much to recommend it and will keep the students interests. It is good to stretch their reading interests by providing them with books about subjects they might never have considered before and this definitely does the job well. It is also good to find books that I know the teaching staff might enjoy as well as the students and I definitely think that this applies in both cases. Absolutely recommend wholeheartedly; a fantastic read.

Reluctantly I gave up and was unable to wade through any more of this.

The narrator was born in 1914 and the area she describes is a regular news item today so it should be a really interesting read. But I didn't find it so.
She writes as a 1920s flapper rather than the generastion after that and despite whatever bravery is undoubtedly involved it tends to focus on wealthy friends whom she dined with.
To be fair, as someone from Chiurchill's family, who would otherwise have been cubbing - that is, killing young animals too young to be chased by the "legitimate" hunt I am unlikely to find much common ground.

Fabulous account of how Anita Leslie' got into the war effort in WWII. She was a cousin of Winston Churchill and set off to work as an ambulance driver in France, North Africa, the Middle East. The style is typical of the time and her class and she does give some references to some politicians who played a prominent role in the war.

These are tales now from a long ago war which still resonates today, and books such as this allow us to keep the personal connection to the past.

I enjoy historical pieces. I hoped to enjoy this memoir of an upper class young woman who volunteered as an ambulance driver during WWII. Her interesting experiences, however, are muddled; she prattles on about this or that with no cohesiveness of thought. It read like a “stream of consciousness” which became extremely difficult to decipher and comprehend because of poor transitioning of context and ‘bouncing’ around. The author had many experiences, but regretfully, they are a hodgepodge in this memoir.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, this book was first published many years ago - and I'm glad it's been republished. Anita is what I would term a redoubtable woman - able to look back with a dispassionate (and sometimes humorous) eye on her experiences in World War II, where she encountered some horrific situations and events. The book provides an insight into how women were viewed at the time - undeterred, Anita carved herself a niche.

It was a privilege to read this book, and I am filled with admiration for the writer's clear and descriptive memoir.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in return for my honest review.

According to the Introduction to this book, this story is one of 'dancing among the skulls'. We certainly don't know that we're alive compared with the brave women who volunteered for roles in the World Wars, such as Anita Leslie who worked as an ambulance driver in France. She certainly had a tough time, for example, she found herself on 'a road strewn for half a mile with dead bodies and blown-up carts' when driving a wounded little girl to the hospital. She watched soldiers die in a 'sea of red snow' and heard dreadful stories about German atrocities, such as thier shooting the inhabitants of every house that had hung our French flags when they retook Metz'. Nothing could have prepared her for the horror of the concentration camps, however.

It is not all grim reading. Leslie manages to invariably keep her spirits up under the most trying circumstances, and she includes humorous anecdotes, including the story of Miranda who would escape from the camp for a night out by digging in the sand under the barbed wire fence in a silver evening dress. She also writes about visiting the great Winston Churchill, her cousin, who sent the French 'his love'.

Anita Leslie has a rather breathless, fast-paced style which is very engaging and suits the story. She seems to have been extremely likeable as well as wonderfully courageous. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre by General de Gaulle.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

What a marvellous war Anita Leslie had!! Daughter of a Baronet and related to Winston Churchill,she had a privileged life and sought excitement in her life despite there being a war raging throughout the world.
Down to earth and scatty in equal parts,this book is a thoughtful and playful account of a well bred female ,who trained as an ambulance mechanic and driver and ended up being posted to Cairo,Syria and the Lebanon and eventually ended up in the European theatre of War. These young women were practically minded and just got on with life, finding time for parties and adventure that involved tales of daring and a can do attitude.
I found this book to be full of surprising facts about the role of women on the front line,who knew the French to be more liberal in their attitudes about women than the British? Anita saw the war as an adventure,yet had spells of levity when complaining about missing her maids and her attitudes about people of different races do make for uncomfortable reading with our modern eyes.
These woman were capable and determined to do as good a job as the men in the war effort. I found this an enjoyable read and would be invaluable to History teachers as they seek to tip the scales a little more fairly towards the gentler sex. I belong to my local U3A and will be recommending this book for future group studies. I have left a copy of this review on Goodreads today.

Train to Nowhere

One Woman's War, Ambulance Driver, Reporter, Liberator
by Anita Leslie

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (World)

Bloomsbury Caravel
Biographies & Memoirs , Travel

Pub Date 24 Aug 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Train to Nowhere through Bloomsbury Caravel and Netgalley:

Anita Leslie wasn't a likely person to find on the battlefield during World War Two. In 1940 England Anita reads an advertisement searching for Women drivers ready to go to Africa.

From November 1940 to February 1941 they lived in the Barracks in Robert Heights Camp Near Pretoria, in February orders came for them to proceed to Creet or Egypt. In a may heatwave they dealt with temperatures that soared to 119 degrees.

She went from Egypt to Transjordan and in the Autumn of 1942 she had to leave Transjordan and head for Beirut where she would resume working with the Eastern Times!

In May of 1944 Anita is sent to Italy where she worked as an ambulance driver transporting the injured.

In this book we learn just what Anita Leslie went through, and her efforts to help in World War 2.

I give it five out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

Train to Nowhere is a great first person account of World War II but only in the singular view of Ms Leslie without external context making it somewhat hard to place in the greater story of the way. Additionally, I felt Ms. Leslie represented a limited and pampered view as she spent most of her service away from the front lines and included comments about the lack of proper maids and "How sick I grew of these tales - how could one want to live in such a world?" and ".........the occupation seemed exceedingly dull" when describing France after Germany's occupation. It felt insulting to the people who were apparently boring her. Later she becomes "bored with the outcry about concentration camp horrors." Thankfully she continues with what was one of the few spots where she seemed to really grasp a true picture of the war: "but neither film nor pen could describe the sinister atmosphere." I somehow didn't see the humor in her comments. Overall, I was left with the feeling I had read a travelogue of a kid on a European gap year instead of someone who had been actively involved in a war.

Anita Leslie is a distant relation of Churchill and also an ambulance driver on four fronts during the war. This is her story and the horrifying situations she finds herself in are well written with compassion. There are many uplifting moments of fun and laughter as well. Anita was from a priviliged family and had no need to join up. However, this was a different time from today and this book shows that there is always something to smile at whatever is happening around you.

(3.5 out of 5 stars) A no nonsense telling of a young British lady's time spent as an ambulance driver during WWII driving for different companies but finally ending up with the French in France and then in Germany as the war ended. A real life relative of Winston Churchill. This was an interesting read with lots of crazy encounters and experiences as one would expect. My thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Caravel, and the author, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my review.

Having read so many books based on either personal experiences or as a story based on some facts, Anita Leslie's memoirs came as a bit of a shock. It seems slightly sardonic, slightly sarcastic view of life on four war fronts which by itself is remarkable. She served as an ambulance driver and obviously saved hundreds of lives, braving a lot of horror but the story is told like as if its from a distance and there is no personal involvement. A job has to be done, its done well and thats it. In this case however the job was not a clear cut one and for most people war does take it out of you. Anita Leslie seemed to have bounced back very nicely. Good for her but it left me feeling slightly let down!

Goodreads and Amazon reviews are up on 9/8/2017. Review also linked to my FB page on 9/8/2017

This memoir of Anita Leslie was very interesting but the writing style was rather dry, so it was not an easy read. The conditions under which the medical staff worked in WW2 seemed more akin to WW1 than Korea, which was only 10 years later. Good for Anita putting up with everything and helping others when she could have got a cushy posting with all her connections. A must for history buffs as it uncovers aspects of the war which are not often mentioned.

Excellent book, especially if you want to know what it was REALLY like during the push into France and then Germany after D-day. Anita Leslie, cousin of Winston Churchill, originally joined up with MTC as a trained mechanic and ambulance driver. Initially posted to Egypt, then Syria and Lebanon, she writes about the people she encounters there , which I found particularly interesting when considering the current conflict in Syria. Anita is keen to be where the action is, and when the war starts to progress into Europe she applies for a transfer to Italy. In Naples, she looks after casualties of Anzio and Cassino. When the MTC is incorporated into the ATS, meaning that British women will be kept well away from the front, she volunteers as an ambulance driver to the French forces following closely behind tanks as they make their way through Europe. This is a first hand account of her experiences during this very tumultuous period in history, and is an enthralling read. The day to day difficulties faced by troops, finding food, somewhere to sleep, indiscriminate death and injury, concentration camps, Berlin and the German people are all described in a very accessible and interesting way. This is not a book about the glory of war, but more the facts of daily life; and in its telling you gain a remarkably clear picture of how it was. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and learnt some surprising facts that I was previously unaware of. An excellent read for anyone interested in WW2.

This book was a real surprise, at the beginning I found it a little rambling, but as I got into it, I understood this book could not be written any other way. It would just have been heartbreaking, and just s0 difficult to read as it would have been to write. This way it told the story, many stories in the form of reminiscing and telling the tremendous jobs done n the war behind the scenes with factual play within. I loved the book, even to the point in shedding a few tears in one particular part.
I recommend everyone to read this, it is extremely well written and tells a "story" in a very easy way, with big impact.

While this is a true book, and written very close to the author's experiences it just somehow didn't ring true and felt like a list of name dropping. It was nice to read a new take on a familiar conflict but sadly this one just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

I received a free electronic copy of this memoir from Netgalley, Bloomsbury Caravel Publishers, and the heirs of Anita Leslie in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. This personal history was originally published in 1948.

This is a very different account of the major battles of WWII. Anita Leslie takes us with her as she travels through all of the major the battles of World War II on four fronts from autumn of 1940 through the end of 1945. Because the British did not allow their ladies to serve at the front, Anita bounced around between publishing broadsheets for the English speaking allied soldiers and driving ambulances for the French army. Her memories and experiences of various battles and the occupation of Germany show us a much more personal experience than we were able to extract from history books. I am grateful for this view point. It gives me a much better understanding of the costs of war and also of the camaraderie and lifelong friendships that are a result of those shared experiences.

Thank you, Bloomsbury Caravel, for reprinting this gem.

This memoir was a pleasure and a privilege to read. It was interesting to read about serving in World War 2, from Anita's perspective. A very detailed and well written account. It is definitely worth reading even though many years have passed.