Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

Kit narrates from Blérancourt in January 1918. She convinces the two Annes to allow her to hold an informal story hour in the club-house at headquarters. They send typed invitations to the village families. Anne Morgan notes that the story hour will be good for the women as well, giving them a break from work while their children are entertained.

On home visits, Kit meets Madame Petit, who had twin daughters, Jeanne and Suzanne. The girls were on a train home from school to surprise their mother in 1915 when the war began; unaware of their plans and thinking them safe at school, their mother evacuated to Brittany. By the time she discovered they were not safe, Suzanne had disappeared and Jeanne had become a prisoner of the Germans; she lost a foot, and refuses to say how. Madame Petit still hopes Suzanne will return.

They loan Jeanne a book and Madame Petit thanks them for all they do, saying she wouldn’t have allowed her own daughter to travel halfway around the world to a war zone. Lewis recounts her own story of how she came to be a Card, volunteering after her father died even though she knew he never would have approved.