Act of Valour Quotes

“The sight of a tented camp being broken and stowed away never failed to stir Tim, and that evening it seemed particularly poignant to watch the rows of white tents collapsing almost simultaneously while fires were smothered as the sun began to sink. Within an hour or so there would be nothing but regular piles of ashes and other marks on the dry scrubland to record the passing of an army. The barren plain would soon return to its former state but, when the wind was in the right direction, some future traveller might hear the whisper of masculine voices or the hushed laughter of soldiers around a camp fire.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“shell shocked patients — the men who had been subjected to more than they could take. It was something she had not yet dealt with, wounds of the mind. Some also had physical damage, but most were reasonably able. The work on this ward was very different. A special kind of nursing was needed by men whose sanity was endangered. There were special centres for the poor victims who would never recover; they were shipped home from there to asylums under conditions which kept them from public gaze.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“When Robert brought to the table a covered plate and lifted the lid with an excited flourish, Tim played second fiddle to a cake for the first time in his life.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“Every soldier knew that courage and foolhardiness were close companions in some situations,”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“The army which only eleven years before had brought an ignominious end to the war against the Boers was disastrously under-manned, and called for volunteers. Young men flocked to the colours in droves, as they always had, fired with the spirit of adventure and mistaking it for patriotism.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour