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Darling Pol

Letters of Mary Wesley and Eric Siepmann 1944-1967

Mary Wesley author Patrick Marnham editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:25th Oct '18

Should be back in stock very soon

Darling Pol cover

A remarkable collection of letters reveals the great love story of author of The Chamomile Lawn Mary Wesley's life.

Before her death in 2002, Mary Wesley told her biographer Patrick Marnham: 'after I met Eric I never looked at anyone else again.

These remarkable letters, which were inspired by Mary's great love story with Eric, were also the means by which the novelist found her voice.

Before her death in 2002, Mary Wesley told her biographer Patrick Marnham: 'after I met Eric I never looked at anyone else again. We lived our ups and downs but life was never boring'. Eric Siepmann was her second husband and their correspondence charted their life together (and apart) with unusual candour and spirit.

These remarkable letters, which were inspired by Mary's great love story with Eric, were also the means by which the novelist found her voice. Entrusted to Marnham in two size -5 shoe boxes, this is one of the great surviving post-war correspondences.

Passionate, erotic, honest, funny and also supremely sad... superbly edited by Wesley's biographer Patrick Marnham -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Spectator *
a lovely, entertaining and moving book -- Sara Wheeler * Literary Review *
It seems extraordinary that Mary Wesley had to wait until she was in her seventies to become an acclaimed author. These letters, written to her lover Eric Siepmann, and edited by her biographer Patrick Marnham, show that she was already a brilliant writer in her thirties -- Lynn Barber * Sunday Times *
Highly readable -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail *
Her letters are cheerful, resilient and funny, full of sharply observed vignettes of her life in Devon. -- Jane Shilling * The Oldie *

ISBN: 9781784704476

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 21mm

Weight: 280g

336 pages