Testament of Youth Testament of Youth is the first installment , covering 1900 – 1925 , in the memoir of Vera Brittain ( 1893 - 1970 ) . It was published in 1933 . Brittain ' s memoir continues with " Testament of Experience " , published in 1957 , and encompassing the years 1925 – 1950 . Between these two books comes " Testament of Friendship " ( published in 1940 ) , which is essentially a memoir of Brittain ' s close colleague and friend , Winifred Holtby . A final segment of memoir , to be called ' Testament of Faith ' or ' Testament of Time ' was planned by Brittain but remained unfinished at her death . " Testament of Youth " has been acclaimed as a classic for its description of the impact of World War I on the lives of women and the middle - class civilian population of Great Britain . The book shows how the impact extended into the postwar years . It is also considered a classic in feminist literature for its depiction of a woman ' s pioneer struggle to forge an independent career in a society only grudgingly tolerant of educated women . In the foreword , Brittain describes how she originally intended to write of her experiences as a novel but was unable to achieve the objective distance from her subject necessary . She then tried to publish her original diary from the war years but with all names fictionalised . This too proved unworkable . Only then did she decide to write her own personal story , putting her own experiences in the wider historic and social context . Several critics have noted the cathartic process by which she deals with her grief in the writing . The narrative begins with Vera ' s plans to enter the University of Oxford and her romance with Roland Leighton , a friend of her brother Edward . Both were commissioned as officers early in World War I , and both were subsequently killed , as were several other members of their social circle . The book ' s main subject is Vera ' s work as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse , nursing wounded in London , Malta and at Etaples in France . It also describes how she returned , disillusioned , to Somerville College , Oxford after the war and completed her BA degree . It covers the beginning of her career in journalism , writing for " Time and Tide " and lecturing for the League of Nations . She visits the graves of her brother Edward in Italy and her fiancé Roland in France . Together with Winifred Holtby she toured the defeated and occupied regions of Germany and Austria in 1923 . It concludes with her meeting her husband George Catlin and their eventual marriage in 1925 . The diaries on which the book is partly based , " Chronicle of Youth " , edited by Alan Bishope , were published in 1981 . In 1998 , the war letters which Brittain also drew on in her autobiography were published in an edition by Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge . Entitled " Letters from a Lost Generation " , their appearance was met with considerable acclaim . Adaptations . The book dramatised by Elaine Morgan as a five - part serial which was transmitted on BBC2 in 1979 . This version features Cheryl Campbell as Vera Brittain , Peter Woodward as Roland Leighton , Joanna McCallum as Winifred Holtby and Emrys James and Jane Wenham as Vera ' s parents . In 1998 , to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the Armistice , a fifteen - part radio dramatisation of the letters on which " Testament of Youth " was partly based was broadcast on BBC Radio Four . Entitled " Letters from a Lost Generation " , it was dramatised by Mark Bostridge and starred Amanda Root as Vera Brittain and Rupert Graves as Roland Leighton . In 2009 it was announced that a feature film adaptation of " Testament of Youth " was in development by BBC Films and Heyday Films { producer David Heyman . This has the support of the Vera Brittain Estate , Brittain ' s daughter Shirley Williams , and Brittain ' s biographer Mark Bostridge who is acting as consultant . Saoirse Ronan was cast to play Brittain in 2012 .