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Letters From The Suitcase
LETTERS FROM THE SUITCASE reveals the vivid, poignant and hugely detailed wartime correspondence between David and Mary Francis from 1938 to 1943, and a unique love story, sure to appeal to readers of Roald Dahl's LOVE FROM BOY, Sheila Hancock's MISS CARTER'S WAR or Helen Simonson's MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND
'I still have that recurring fear of something happening to me before I see you again, and before I can tell you myself just how much and how often I've realised during the last few months that I love you completely and to the exclusion of all others. Remember that, because if there wasn't you, my darling Mary, the world would seem very empty and meaningless.'
Mary was only 21 when she met and fell in love with the privately educated 19 year old David in 1938. Their affair was passionate, and in a swing of disgust at their class divide, and the growing rise of fascism and the Nazi party in Europe, they joined the Communist Party. These letters reveal their intelligence and thoughtfulness, details of their lives working as a secretary at Bletchley Park and as a young officer in action on the other side of the world, their marriage against the wishes of David's parents, their sexual desire and longing, and Mary's experience of bringing up a small baby alone.
David was to die in India, five years after their meeting, though his letters continued to reach Mary long after the event. At the heart, this is the story of a short but rich, rewarding and colourful love, written with vivacity and honesty. It is also the story of a father that Rosheen Finnigan never knew, and a fascinating social history, utterly unique in the telling.
'I still have that recurring fear of something happening to me before I see you again, and before I can tell you myself just how much and how often I've realised during the last few months that I love you completely and to the exclusion of all others. Remember that, because if there wasn't you, my darling Mary, the world would seem very empty and meaningless.'
Mary was only 21 when she met and fell in love with the privately educated 19 year old David in 1938. Their affair was passionate, and in a swing of disgust at their class divide, and the growing rise of fascism and the Nazi party in Europe, they joined the Communist Party. These letters reveal their intelligence and thoughtfulness, details of their lives working as a secretary at Bletchley Park and as a young officer in action on the other side of the world, their marriage against the wishes of David's parents, their sexual desire and longing, and Mary's experience of bringing up a small baby alone.
David was to die in India, five years after their meeting, though his letters continued to reach Mary long after the event. At the heart, this is the story of a short but rich, rewarding and colourful love, written with vivacity and honesty. It is also the story of a father that Rosheen Finnigan never knew, and a fascinating social history, utterly unique in the telling.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
480 pages, Hardcover
Published October 30, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 31, 2017
Rosheen Francis never got a chance to know her father, David. A naval officer during World War II, he never made it home.
His wife, Mary, eventually remarried and rarely talked about her first love. However, just before her death, she gifted her daughter something extraordinary: a trunk which contained over five years' worth of correspondence between Mary and David. This book reveals the story of a politically aware couple, their determination to marry and their heartbreak at being separated by David's postings abroad.
The letters begin in 1938, when the intensity of their new-found love is apparent and their visits are frequent. Mary finds herself working as a secretary at Bletchley Park, while David begins his naval training.
They agonise over weekend leave and the opportunities to meet up steadily decrease. They have married in secret and dream of beginning their new life together. Their letters are full of hopes, dreams and complete devotion to each other: "Your letter was the most perfect of letters, and will be my most valued possession always, because it is the outward sign of the wonderful, unbelievable knowledge that you love me as much as I love you, completely, with all my mental and physical strength and for ever."
By 1940, David is in a Skegness training camp and his letters are light-hearted accounts of daily life on a naval base. However, the harshness of the camp's conditions are not ignored. He describes wonderful concerts, yet in the same letter he tells of the death of a man from exposure and the ongoing epidemic of bronchitis and pneumonia. All of this before they even leave Britain. The same letter ends with a note of positivity: "It's really miraculous how much one can be in love and it's even more wonderful to think that we found each other so early and so young, so that the rest of our lives will be spent together".
The letters become more intermittent as David heads for Africa, and onto India, while Mary raises baby Rosheen in the rubble that is London. The insights from the trunk-full of correspondence are entrancing and heartbreaking. David's postings abroad result in wonderfully descriptive vignettes, while Mary's independence flourishes under extremely difficult circumstances.
It is hard not to fall under the spell of this intelligent, astute and loving couple. Rosheen is very fortunate to have been given access to her parents' short, yet intense, relationship.
His wife, Mary, eventually remarried and rarely talked about her first love. However, just before her death, she gifted her daughter something extraordinary: a trunk which contained over five years' worth of correspondence between Mary and David. This book reveals the story of a politically aware couple, their determination to marry and their heartbreak at being separated by David's postings abroad.
The letters begin in 1938, when the intensity of their new-found love is apparent and their visits are frequent. Mary finds herself working as a secretary at Bletchley Park, while David begins his naval training.
They agonise over weekend leave and the opportunities to meet up steadily decrease. They have married in secret and dream of beginning their new life together. Their letters are full of hopes, dreams and complete devotion to each other: "Your letter was the most perfect of letters, and will be my most valued possession always, because it is the outward sign of the wonderful, unbelievable knowledge that you love me as much as I love you, completely, with all my mental and physical strength and for ever."
By 1940, David is in a Skegness training camp and his letters are light-hearted accounts of daily life on a naval base. However, the harshness of the camp's conditions are not ignored. He describes wonderful concerts, yet in the same letter he tells of the death of a man from exposure and the ongoing epidemic of bronchitis and pneumonia. All of this before they even leave Britain. The same letter ends with a note of positivity: "It's really miraculous how much one can be in love and it's even more wonderful to think that we found each other so early and so young, so that the rest of our lives will be spent together".
The letters become more intermittent as David heads for Africa, and onto India, while Mary raises baby Rosheen in the rubble that is London. The insights from the trunk-full of correspondence are entrancing and heartbreaking. David's postings abroad result in wonderfully descriptive vignettes, while Mary's independence flourishes under extremely difficult circumstances.
It is hard not to fall under the spell of this intelligent, astute and loving couple. Rosheen is very fortunate to have been given access to her parents' short, yet intense, relationship.
February 13, 2019
I found this do wonderful in every way - I have difficulty understanding that some people have thought it almost boring. I couldn't put ut down and it has really effected me. Love, life, war, humour, friendships, exotic places, wartime London, politics, intelligence work, having children ... all life is in these pages. Beautifully written, real letters. What privilege to be able to read!
June 15, 2017
Letters From The Suitcase, edited by Rosheen and Cal Finnigan, is exactly what it says on the cover. It chronicles the wartime love story of Rosheen Finnigan’s parents, David and Mary, in epistolary format. The correspondence started in 1938 soon after the couple first met in London. It continues until 1943 when David died of smallpox in India.
The letters are grouped to cover significant changes in the couple’s circumstances over the years. Each chapter is prefaced with a short introduction by Rosheen putting the letters that follow into context. Although the world was changing around them due to the Second World War, many of the letters contain details of the minutiae of their day to day lives alongside ceaseless outpourings of their love for each other.
At the beginning of the book Rosheen explains how she was first given the letters just prior to her mother’s death. She had not previously understood the intensity of her parents’ relationship which flourished despite the fact they spent much of their married life apart. An epilogue explains how reading the letters enabled Rosheen to understand how important she had been to both David and Mary. This was a moving denouement to what is a lengthy work.
Mary was a feisty young woman determined to live her own life even after marriage and motherhood. She suffered depressive periods and would call David out if she did not feel supported. David seemed more typical of the period with his concerns that she retain her slim figure, although his love for her and desire for her wider well-being are clear. They both reference a mutually satisfying sex life and there is jealousy if any unfaithfulness is suspected.
The letters are deeply personal and provide a picture of day to day life during a war. As well as the loneliness of separation there are financial hardships. These do not prevent them from enjoying a lively social life both when together and with their many friends. They reference books read, films watched and the politics of the day. Privations are mentioned although the letters are written with largely good humour.
Despite some interest in the wartime detail this was not a book for me. I found the letters repetitive and the book overly long. I had hoped for something along the lines of Chris Cleeve’s Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. I can understand their value to Rosheen, but these letters did not provide enough to keep me interested for close to five hundred pages.
My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Tinder Press.
The letters are grouped to cover significant changes in the couple’s circumstances over the years. Each chapter is prefaced with a short introduction by Rosheen putting the letters that follow into context. Although the world was changing around them due to the Second World War, many of the letters contain details of the minutiae of their day to day lives alongside ceaseless outpourings of their love for each other.
At the beginning of the book Rosheen explains how she was first given the letters just prior to her mother’s death. She had not previously understood the intensity of her parents’ relationship which flourished despite the fact they spent much of their married life apart. An epilogue explains how reading the letters enabled Rosheen to understand how important she had been to both David and Mary. This was a moving denouement to what is a lengthy work.
Mary was a feisty young woman determined to live her own life even after marriage and motherhood. She suffered depressive periods and would call David out if she did not feel supported. David seemed more typical of the period with his concerns that she retain her slim figure, although his love for her and desire for her wider well-being are clear. They both reference a mutually satisfying sex life and there is jealousy if any unfaithfulness is suspected.
The letters are deeply personal and provide a picture of day to day life during a war. As well as the loneliness of separation there are financial hardships. These do not prevent them from enjoying a lively social life both when together and with their many friends. They reference books read, films watched and the politics of the day. Privations are mentioned although the letters are written with largely good humour.
Despite some interest in the wartime detail this was not a book for me. I found the letters repetitive and the book overly long. I had hoped for something along the lines of Chris Cleeve’s Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. I can understand their value to Rosheen, but these letters did not provide enough to keep me interested for close to five hundred pages.
My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Tinder Press.
June 5, 2017
Review to follow...
September 24, 2017
Rosheen is the daughter of wartime sweethearts who loved each other passionately and married against their parent’s wishes. On the death of her mother Rosheen found a suitcase full of letters which her Mother and Father wrote to each other during the war and which chronicle their time together. The collection is not complete but it does paint a wonderful picture of a typical young couple’s life in war-torn Britain.
Snippets of information are included in the letters which give a real insight into what it was like to live through the second World War, whether that be as a soldier leaving home to go and fight, or as a loved one who has to stay at home receiving very little news and always fearing the worst. The angst of separation, and possibly loss, are not the only things that these brave people had to contend with. Problems with jobs, childcare, evacuation, shortage of both money and food are all dealt with stoically and practically. There are also numerous references to real historical events as they unfold as well as details of the gut reactions of the people on the ground to strategic decisions that are made and tactics that are employed. Of course, the responses of the two main characters are even more fascinating as they are looking at the whole situation from the point of view of being communist sympathisers.
This book is a very poignant and, ultimately, heart-breaking love story. Also, despite the fact that I have no particular interest in this period of history, I do understand that it is a wonderful record of the social history of the time.
So why only 3 stars? Although each letter is beautifully written, heart-warming, surprisingly modern and often passionate, collectively you can have too much of a good thing. There was so much repetition and the book was so long that it erred on the side of boring. I understand why the Finnigans wanted to include as much of their material as possible because each individual letter is fascinating but I think that the same result could have been achieved with some serious editing which would have made a much more enjoyable experience for the reader.
Unfortunately I just found the book too long and too repetitive to be digestible as a continuous read. After a while I decided it would be more palatable if read in small chunks alongside other books – a chapter a day sort of idea. This was much more successful. I do think that a shorter version of the book would be a wonderful read and I cannot give enough praise to the individual letters, each of which are almost a standalone masterpiece in their own right.
Snippets of information are included in the letters which give a real insight into what it was like to live through the second World War, whether that be as a soldier leaving home to go and fight, or as a loved one who has to stay at home receiving very little news and always fearing the worst. The angst of separation, and possibly loss, are not the only things that these brave people had to contend with. Problems with jobs, childcare, evacuation, shortage of both money and food are all dealt with stoically and practically. There are also numerous references to real historical events as they unfold as well as details of the gut reactions of the people on the ground to strategic decisions that are made and tactics that are employed. Of course, the responses of the two main characters are even more fascinating as they are looking at the whole situation from the point of view of being communist sympathisers.
This book is a very poignant and, ultimately, heart-breaking love story. Also, despite the fact that I have no particular interest in this period of history, I do understand that it is a wonderful record of the social history of the time.
So why only 3 stars? Although each letter is beautifully written, heart-warming, surprisingly modern and often passionate, collectively you can have too much of a good thing. There was so much repetition and the book was so long that it erred on the side of boring. I understand why the Finnigans wanted to include as much of their material as possible because each individual letter is fascinating but I think that the same result could have been achieved with some serious editing which would have made a much more enjoyable experience for the reader.
Unfortunately I just found the book too long and too repetitive to be digestible as a continuous read. After a while I decided it would be more palatable if read in small chunks alongside other books – a chapter a day sort of idea. This was much more successful. I do think that a shorter version of the book would be a wonderful read and I cannot give enough praise to the individual letters, each of which are almost a standalone masterpiece in their own right.
October 25, 2024
This non-fiction book is exactly what the title says - it is a collection of letters written from 1940 to 1943 between a husband and wife separated by the Second World War. As such, I found it an interesting read. We are so used to tales of derring-do, survival etc, many of them the stuff of Boys Own novels.
This book is quite different. The husband, David, joins the Royal Navy as a trainee telegraph operator but ends up working in the Paymaster's Office, in Portsmouth and, later, in India. He is involved in a couple of attacks ( in Madagascar) about which I know nothing, but is not in physical danger for most of the time.
His wife, Mary, is left behind in the UK, moving from one place to another but living mainly in London. The couple had only been married for one year when David joined up and Mary is left on her own, pregnant and struggling with the vicissitudes of everyday life during the war years.
Because these letters were never designed to be read by anybody other than the couple, they are full of financial problems, family news and tender reminders of the short time the couple spent together.
In addition to the attacks on Madagascar, I learnt that the town of Largs on the Clyde coast in Scotland was a major centre for the planning of the Normandy Landings and was visited by the leaders of all three armed services.
An interesting read giving a view of ordinary life during the early 1940s.
This book is quite different. The husband, David, joins the Royal Navy as a trainee telegraph operator but ends up working in the Paymaster's Office, in Portsmouth and, later, in India. He is involved in a couple of attacks ( in Madagascar) about which I know nothing, but is not in physical danger for most of the time.
His wife, Mary, is left behind in the UK, moving from one place to another but living mainly in London. The couple had only been married for one year when David joined up and Mary is left on her own, pregnant and struggling with the vicissitudes of everyday life during the war years.
Because these letters were never designed to be read by anybody other than the couple, they are full of financial problems, family news and tender reminders of the short time the couple spent together.
In addition to the attacks on Madagascar, I learnt that the town of Largs on the Clyde coast in Scotland was a major centre for the planning of the Normandy Landings and was visited by the leaders of all three armed services.
An interesting read giving a view of ordinary life during the early 1940s.
July 7, 2022
Very sad - leaves me with a lump in my throat. In 5 years of being together, Mary and David spent only one year actually together, with WW2 separating them. The letters were a bit repetitive, but the feeling of separation and mutual love was real. David’s frustration with lack of meaning in his posting in India was especially poignant and also Rosheen’s getting to know her father through the letters.
April 24, 2018
An ok book set in world war 2 revealing letters between two lovers. A bit different read
March 17, 2021
This is quite a long book. Yes, I enjoyed it, but the real interest for me was in David Francis’ war service which is at the end.
August 17, 2017
Review to follow soon.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews