02706cam a22003973u 4500 76419 UtSlPG 20260610134752.0 m cr n 260607r20251916utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d 16023626 UtSlPG en iso639-1 PR Ruck, Berta, 1878-1978 The girls at his billet Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-06-30 Al Haines "The Girls at His Billet" by Berta Ruck is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set on England’s east coast during wartime, it blends romantic comedy and home-front life as three spirited sisters under a strict aunt find their dull village transformed by an army training camp and the arrival of a billeted young officer. Narrated by the sharp-tongued youngest sister, the story promises flirtations, clashes, and shifting loyalties as khaki invades their “hen-party” household. The opening of the novel follows Elizabeth (“Rattle”), her sisters Evelyn and Nancy, and their aunt in the dreary village of “Mud Flats” as news arrives that troops will be billeted locally. Rattle cleverly maneuvers her aunt into accepting an officer, and after much excited preparation and card-fortune “omens,” Second-Lieutenant Frank Lascelles turns up early, overhears Rattle’s cheeky “Billet Boy” talk, and sparks instant mutual antagonism—though he charms everyone else. Daily life fills with training scenes, ration details, and his irrepressible presence, while a tall, quiet officer named Curtis and another, Masters, are invited to a small supper. After a brief sisterly truce, Rattle finds a “new interest”: secretly answering a newspaper ad from a “Lonely and Unpopular Subaltern,” penning a candid, sympathetic letter that hints at her own isolation and sets up a parallel thread to the household’s khaki tensions. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: New York: A. L. Burt Company, 1916 Young women -- Fiction Love stories Sisters -- Fiction Soldiers -- Fiction Aunts -- Fiction World War, 1914-1918 -- Great Britain -- Fiction Caswell, Edward C., 1879-1963 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510020053711&seq=11 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76419 117144 117144