On the day the Great War began, August 4, 1914, fourteen-year-old Mary Russell opened a new diary and wrote the words: I was fourteen when I first heard about the War. Fourteen years and 214 days, with my nose (as usual) in a book as I walked down the stairs. At least, that’s how Mother says I shall remember it. And Father agrees, that War will be both long and hard, for all the European countries and the Empire... Young Mary’s weekly entries begin in San Francisco and take her to Boston, London, and Sussex during the early months of the war. They chronicle not only the European conflict, but her turmoil over more personal catastrophic events as well. Mary Russell’s War offers readers a unique and personal glimpse into Mary's early life, before she met Sherlock Holmes and her life was transformed.