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In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor
In 1956, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire - youngest of the six Mitford sisters - invited the writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor to visit Lismore Castle, in Ireland. This halcyon visit sparked off a deep friendship and a lifelong exchange of highly entertaining letters.
416 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
May 20, 2015
A book of letters between two wildly charismatic figures – Patrick Leigh Fermor , renowned for his daredevil exploits during the second world war, and even more so for his travel writings, and Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, a wonderfully spontaneous and warm person, who lived in a stately pile called Chatsworth House, which took up much of her time and energy. Deborah started out life as one of the Mitford sisters.
Patrick Leigh Fermor in 1944
Deborah aged 20, in 1940.
Deborah and her granddaughter in front of the stately pile in 2006
Both of them are rather soft-hearted and effusive in their letters - and I enjoyed their kind, funny and affectionate correspondence. The book crackles with famous names, from the Prince of Wales to Bruce Chatwin, from John Kennedy to Dirk Bogarde. One has to forgive them though. They weren’t name dropping, they just moved in ridiculously illustrious circles. They were both extremely sociable and the letters mention hundreds of different people. Each letter is followed by a plethora of notes describing the people mentioned . I’m afraid I gave up on the notes after about the tenth letter and just went with the flow. They also used various nicknames, and they are listed in the preface e.g. “Cake” = Queen Mother, “Old French Authoress” or “Ancient Dame of France” = Nancy Mitford, “Woman” = Deborah’s sister Pamela ….and so on. If you find nicknames odious this is probably not the book for you.
Deborah says she hates reading books, and amazingly, considering her correspondence with PLF for over 50 years…she never read any of his books. Every now and again she would refer to one of them, but she never actually picked one up and read it. Luckily he wrote her these wonderful letters, so at least that way she got a glimpse of his writing skills. Most of the time he lived in Greece, and his descriptions of his home there are stunning. But here is a quote about a winter holiday spent in England, which gives a taste of his talents. I especially enjoy it when he writes about landscapes.
The letters also contain lots of charming gossip. (Not an oxymoron, gossip can be charming... Because of the generous natures of PLF and Deborah the gossip is kindly, and also often amusing).
I see from the preface that Deborah wrote about ten books too, but when she mentions them in the letters she is always hugely rude about them....so I am not tempted to rush off to the library and order one.
The book ends with a letter dated May 2007, when Deborah was eighty-eight and PLF was ninety-three. In spite of various physical ailments their hearts and humour were still going strong. The letters are a marvellous testament to over half a century of friendship.
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Photographs taken from the book.
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And herewith something that has nothing to do with the book, but it interested me greatly. An extract from a Guardian interview with Deborah after the publication of her autobiography.....
Patrick Leigh Fermor in 1944
Deborah aged 20, in 1940.
Deborah and her granddaughter in front of the stately pile in 2006
Both of them are rather soft-hearted and effusive in their letters - and I enjoyed their kind, funny and affectionate correspondence. The book crackles with famous names, from the Prince of Wales to Bruce Chatwin, from John Kennedy to Dirk Bogarde. One has to forgive them though. They weren’t name dropping, they just moved in ridiculously illustrious circles. They were both extremely sociable and the letters mention hundreds of different people. Each letter is followed by a plethora of notes describing the people mentioned . I’m afraid I gave up on the notes after about the tenth letter and just went with the flow. They also used various nicknames, and they are listed in the preface e.g. “Cake” = Queen Mother, “Old French Authoress” or “Ancient Dame of France” = Nancy Mitford, “Woman” = Deborah’s sister Pamela ….and so on. If you find nicknames odious this is probably not the book for you.
Deborah says she hates reading books, and amazingly, considering her correspondence with PLF for over 50 years…she never read any of his books. Every now and again she would refer to one of them, but she never actually picked one up and read it. Luckily he wrote her these wonderful letters, so at least that way she got a glimpse of his writing skills. Most of the time he lived in Greece, and his descriptions of his home there are stunning. But here is a quote about a winter holiday spent in England, which gives a taste of his talents. I especially enjoy it when he writes about landscapes.
I’m sitting in this house, looking out at the snowflakes tumbling into the orchard below, where fifty sheep graze on frost-bitten tussocks of grass. Beyond it stand the old mill this house is named after, the broken wheel, iced solid, and the millstream iced over. Only a thin ribbon of water survives in motion, the rest is locked under a lid of ice. Two hundred pigeons live in the top part of the mill, and flutter out and in. Beyond the stream, which is called the Isborne (the only river in the kingdom, it seems, which flows due south to due north), in a field, stands a neighbour’s sturdy horse, rugged up – one rug yesterday, but two today, I note: also grazing. But what about winter? The Isborne is wired off and the two troughs are frozen solid. Joan says they melt it by licking it with their warm tongues, then lap it up…Beyond it, the Cotswolds fade away into cotton wool.
The letters also contain lots of charming gossip. (Not an oxymoron, gossip can be charming... Because of the generous natures of PLF and Deborah the gossip is kindly, and also often amusing).
I see from the preface that Deborah wrote about ten books too, but when she mentions them in the letters she is always hugely rude about them....so I am not tempted to rush off to the library and order one.
The book ends with a letter dated May 2007, when Deborah was eighty-eight and PLF was ninety-three. In spite of various physical ailments their hearts and humour were still going strong. The letters are a marvellous testament to over half a century of friendship.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Photographs taken from the book.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And herewith something that has nothing to do with the book, but it interested me greatly. An extract from a Guardian interview with Deborah after the publication of her autobiography.....
January 27, 2015
Letters 1954 to 2007
This book is a wonderful reminder of the inestimable value of really, really, really good friends; the type of friend who knows you far, far better than you think you know yourself.
PLF is quizzically revealed as being unable to spell “Tues” (for Tuesday); in haste he idiosyncratically spells it “Teus”. This collection of correspondence is shot through with so many odd and delightful whimsies; such as mention (p.76) of the provision of a “Complaints” Book to sit alongside the House “Visitors’ Book”, a plain paper book, lined, in which on departure, overnight house guests write a factual (or farcical) account of their stay! Rather a good idea, I thought! Wish I’d thought of it.
Correspondence, written in warm humour, over very many years, such as is contained in this book, is a heart-warming reminder of the pleasure and riches of the friendship of equal minds, working differently, sparking off each other..
There is so much to fascinate; including insights from PLF’s memories of and struggles not only in writing, “A Time of Gifts”; but also a vivid portrayal of Society in Britain from 1954 to 2007 (the date of this book’s publication), Surprises too, of the type, “I never knew that” abound; such as PLF and Debo’s staunch friendships with Ann Charteris, who had become Mrs (Ian) Fleming (of the James Bond books) in 1952 (her third marriage); and the desperately serious difficulties she later experienced when Fleming, who had tied up his estates in horribly (needlessly?) complicated trusts, died. Neither had I previously realised that Prime Minister (1957-1963) Harold Macmillan was a scion of the family who owned the publisher Macmillan; one of my favourite twentieth century publishers.
Each letter is fully referenced to explain who’s who and what’s what. The only fly in the ointment is that, understandably, such references are not repeated. So if the reader does forget, recourse must be made to the index at the end of the book; not difficult; just a whisker distracting.
All in all this book is simply HUGE fun; despite now standing as a monument to celebrate two remarkable and inspirational persons, and their friendship.
This book is a wonderful reminder of the inestimable value of really, really, really good friends; the type of friend who knows you far, far better than you think you know yourself.
PLF is quizzically revealed as being unable to spell “Tues” (for Tuesday); in haste he idiosyncratically spells it “Teus”. This collection of correspondence is shot through with so many odd and delightful whimsies; such as mention (p.76) of the provision of a “Complaints” Book to sit alongside the House “Visitors’ Book”, a plain paper book, lined, in which on departure, overnight house guests write a factual (or farcical) account of their stay! Rather a good idea, I thought! Wish I’d thought of it.
Correspondence, written in warm humour, over very many years, such as is contained in this book, is a heart-warming reminder of the pleasure and riches of the friendship of equal minds, working differently, sparking off each other..
There is so much to fascinate; including insights from PLF’s memories of and struggles not only in writing, “A Time of Gifts”; but also a vivid portrayal of Society in Britain from 1954 to 2007 (the date of this book’s publication), Surprises too, of the type, “I never knew that” abound; such as PLF and Debo’s staunch friendships with Ann Charteris, who had become Mrs (Ian) Fleming (of the James Bond books) in 1952 (her third marriage); and the desperately serious difficulties she later experienced when Fleming, who had tied up his estates in horribly (needlessly?) complicated trusts, died. Neither had I previously realised that Prime Minister (1957-1963) Harold Macmillan was a scion of the family who owned the publisher Macmillan; one of my favourite twentieth century publishers.
Each letter is fully referenced to explain who’s who and what’s what. The only fly in the ointment is that, understandably, such references are not repeated. So if the reader does forget, recourse must be made to the index at the end of the book; not difficult; just a whisker distracting.
All in all this book is simply HUGE fun; despite now standing as a monument to celebrate two remarkable and inspirational persons, and their friendship.
July 30, 2009
This book collects over 50 years (1954-2007)worth of letters between the dowager Duchess of Devonshire, born Deborah Mitford, the youngest of the Mitford sisters, and Patrick Leigh Fermor, an autodidact wild child who in his younger days hiked around Europe with not much more than The Oxford Book of English Verse and some drawing paper, then met and set up house with a Romanian princess 12 years older than him, and later became a WWII war hero by kidnapping a German general in Crete--who he forged a bond with when they recited one of Horace's Latin odes together. The two correspondents are still alive, Deborah Devonshire was born in 1920 and Patrick Leigh Fermor in 1915, and as of the book's publication they were continuing their exchange letters. Because of the long span of time, this book races through the years. Leigh Fermor's letters can be a little overwritten while Deborah--the determinedly nonpolitical, nonliterary Mitford--has a far simpler style, but they share an ironic sense of humor and a fascinating bunch of friends and family (Deborah was related by marriage to John Kennedy and attended both his inauguration and his funeral.)
October 4, 2011
I've been making my way through this book ever so slowly for the past two years. Essentially I think I was afraid of that to end this book of correspondence would leave me depressed. The end of correspondence would mean the end of life for the two correspondents. Deborah Devonshire is still alive, but Paddy is dead. The book places the end of their correspondence sometime in 2008.
However, my reticence to kill them by reading changed though, when they hit their 70s. Patrick sent off letters describing his swim across the Bosphorus at 75, and Deborah corresponded about her busy life throwing concerts and writing books well into her 80s. I suppose life is what you make it, and these two lived and are living quite famously.
The last letter from Patrick to Deborah describes that he is reading Robert Byron's The Road to Oxiana for the umpteenth time. Felicitously enough, this is the book I started reading just this week. I feel that the end of one book has become the guided journey to the next. Thank you Debo and Paddy!
However, my reticence to kill them by reading changed though, when they hit their 70s. Patrick sent off letters describing his swim across the Bosphorus at 75, and Deborah corresponded about her busy life throwing concerts and writing books well into her 80s. I suppose life is what you make it, and these two lived and are living quite famously.
The last letter from Patrick to Deborah describes that he is reading Robert Byron's The Road to Oxiana for the umpteenth time. Felicitously enough, this is the book I started reading just this week. I feel that the end of one book has become the guided journey to the next. Thank you Debo and Paddy!
July 30, 2015
It's always good to spend some time with Patrick Leigh Fermor. The best sections in this book are extended descriptions by him of walking holidays, for example in mountains in France and Spain, and some of his delicious shorter descriptions, such as this passage where he was writing about spring in Mani in Greece where he and his wife lived:
"... tortoises are coming out and courting each other, sounding through the glades like guests in horn-rimmed spectacles embracing at a cocktail party." (page 413)
References to various members of the Mitford family were interesting also, but there were so many references to other people of whom I knew nothing and who were not of interest to me (various members of the aristocracy in particular), that all the footnotes became rather tedious after a while.
So worth reading if you enjoy PLF, but probably not otherwise, unless you find the British aristocracy a lot more interesting than I do.
"... tortoises are coming out and courting each other, sounding through the glades like guests in horn-rimmed spectacles embracing at a cocktail party." (page 413)
References to various members of the Mitford family were interesting also, but there were so many references to other people of whom I knew nothing and who were not of interest to me (various members of the aristocracy in particular), that all the footnotes became rather tedious after a while.
So worth reading if you enjoy PLF, but probably not otherwise, unless you find the British aristocracy a lot more interesting than I do.
February 2, 2011
"Debo" was a Mitford sister who became a Duchess; "Paddy" a wild young man who became a remarkable war hero helping to lead the Cretan resistance to the Germans, then a terrific travel writer. They met in the 50s and have been corresponding ever since. (She's now 90; he's about to turn 96.) She serves tea to the Queen Mother (called "Cake") while he tramps around Greece, South America, and the Himalayas. Her conservatism and anti-intellectualism ("Books - I loathe them") can get tiresome, but she's self-deprecating and often terrifically funny. His descriptions of his travels are vivid and less studied than in his books. I savored this delightful collection and couldn't bear for it to end.
October 24, 2012
My fascination with the Mitford sisters continues & now I'm adding Patrick Leigh Fermor to my list of Must-reads. This sparkling, amusing collection of letters contains marvellous travel writing from PLF and a peep into the world of the British Aristocracy. The book is a 'dipper'; you can read a couple of letters for fifteen minutes or so & return to it when time allows. Loved it.
February 1, 2010
I came to this book having loved the previous works by Patrick Leigh Fermor that I had read, and knowing little or nothing about Deborah Devonshire. I had never been particularly interested in the Mitford sisters and I actually found it quite hard to start reading the book knowing little about them beyond common knowledge. This was because letters, by their very nature, are intimate and take many shared experiences and acquaintances for granted. The mass of nicknames, events, houses etc obscured easy entry to the letters - even though they were thoroughly backed up by notes. The notes were essential reading in order to understand anything at all - so I spent half my time reading dry or trivial "Mrs X (1920 - 1989) once owned a fluffy dog which the Queen liked to call Candy - after candy floss" type notes and getting nowhere.
However, it's worth persevering, because once you get used to the main nicknames you can float through the rest of the book ignoring the more trivial notes. Patrick Leigh Fermor's letters are rich and interesting and supplement his more famous published works. Deborah Devonshire grew on me as the book went on and, after vaguely disliking her at the start (probably envious that she was rich and friends with PLF) I found myself enjoying her side of the correspondence just as much towards the end.
However, it's worth persevering, because once you get used to the main nicknames you can float through the rest of the book ignoring the more trivial notes. Patrick Leigh Fermor's letters are rich and interesting and supplement his more famous published works. Deborah Devonshire grew on me as the book went on and, after vaguely disliking her at the start (probably envious that she was rich and friends with PLF) I found myself enjoying her side of the correspondence just as much towards the end.
December 25, 2011
I admit to a soft spot for reading about the Mitfords and for reading their correspondence. So this book was right up my street. I loved reading The Duchess of Devonshire's wonderful chat about running an estate, attending the inauguration and funeral of John Kennedy (she was amused that during the inauguration activities the press had to run around trying to figure out just who she was), and the marital problems of "my friend" (the Prince of Wales). She is well-bred and doesn't really gossip, noting only that the had heard that Princess Diana was "not easy." Despite all the glittering people she talks about, you never forget that she also knows an awful lot about sheep and chickens
Patrick Leigh Fermor is that rare creature, a man of action and a man of letter. His books about his travels ("A Time of Gifts," "Between the Woods and the Water") are incredibly well written. Many consider him the finest travel writer ever. His letters are filled with detail and the reader feels he is experiencing adventure right along with the author. During WWII he was involved in the battle of Crete and was captured a German general. His death, earlier this year at the age of 95, was received more coverage in Britain than it did in the States.
I started and ended my day with these letters. Both correspondents were great company and I hated to see the book end
Patrick Leigh Fermor is that rare creature, a man of action and a man of letter. His books about his travels ("A Time of Gifts," "Between the Woods and the Water") are incredibly well written. Many consider him the finest travel writer ever. His letters are filled with detail and the reader feels he is experiencing adventure right along with the author. During WWII he was involved in the battle of Crete and was captured a German general. His death, earlier this year at the age of 95, was received more coverage in Britain than it did in the States.
I started and ended my day with these letters. Both correspondents were great company and I hated to see the book end
March 20, 2015
Patrick Leigh Fermor -- my hero. What a man: courageous and adventurous, yet so warm, clever, charming, articulate, romantic, and funny. Oh, and devilishly handsome! I think I fell a little bit in love with him.
Was so sad to finally finish this book. I took my time reading these letters -- checking this book out from the library numerous times (oddly, it was never on hold) and jotting down many amusing turns of phrase.
Also, fascinating inside views of coronations, visits to royalty-inhabited castles, JFK's inauguration, and the like, courtesy DD. She even attended Prince Charles' two weddings. (Better that I not comment on the second one.)
Spoiler: when I began reading it, I thought PLF was still living. Unfortunately -- or not, as he was in his mid-nineties and life was becoming physically more difficult for him -- he died in 2011. There's a Web site thoroughly devoted to him and those who knew him, and are mentioned in many of the letters. http://patrickleighfermor.wordpress.c...
One more thing: previously having read "Wait For Me!" helped enormously in understanding the back stories of so many of the people mentioned in this book.
Was so sad to finally finish this book. I took my time reading these letters -- checking this book out from the library numerous times (oddly, it was never on hold) and jotting down many amusing turns of phrase.
Also, fascinating inside views of coronations, visits to royalty-inhabited castles, JFK's inauguration, and the like, courtesy DD. She even attended Prince Charles' two weddings. (Better that I not comment on the second one.)
Spoiler: when I began reading it, I thought PLF was still living. Unfortunately -- or not, as he was in his mid-nineties and life was becoming physically more difficult for him -- he died in 2011. There's a Web site thoroughly devoted to him and those who knew him, and are mentioned in many of the letters. http://patrickleighfermor.wordpress.c...
One more thing: previously having read "Wait For Me!" helped enormously in understanding the back stories of so many of the people mentioned in this book.
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August 7, 2011I was fortunate to meet Debo whilo camping on one of her grouse moors - a true countrywoman of the old school, shrewd businesswoman and last survivor of the fabled Mitford girls. PLF is my hero: he crossed Europe on foot in the 30s, was dropped into Crete in World War II, kidnapped the German commander of the island, navigated 22 roadblocks and got his quarry safely back to Cairo. Later he became the finest travel writer of his generation. This beguiling volume details their long correspondence, featuring her magical transformation of Chatsworth House and his constant journeying, including a fabulous description of a swim across The Hellespont. Packed with jokes, anecdotes, riddles and gossip, In Tearing Haste reveals a deep and loving friendship between two of the most interesting people you could ever wish to discover. Four stars only, as the voluminous - and highly-necessary - notes could have been better organised.
May 5, 2015
Letters between the Duchess of Devonshire (a Mitford sister) and Patrick Leigh Fermor, over around 50 years of friendship and published while both were still alive (both have since died). It's not comprehensive as there are gaps (where letters are missing, and also because over the course of this long friendship there were many visits to each other ad therefore no correspondence. These are mainly light chatty letters, revealing a picture of privileged lives with much humour. There is a whole host of mutual acquaintances who flit through the pages of these letters and other memoirs and diaries, and if you have the time and patience to read a lot of them you will get an interesting picture of these social circles collide or fit together.
June 7, 2012
Oh so interesting, not to mention extremely poignant near the end when both are writing obituaries and sorting through the correspondence of deceased friends and family.
What's particularly noticeable is there is no nastiness or malice in the letters, but humour and genuine affection.
I'm genuinely sad to have finished this collection of letters, and regret that my own letter writing has come to an end with the advent of email.
May 7, 2011
The first few letters are nothing special, but PLF's writing very quickly takes off. Very quick, amusing, flippant, gossipy, quickly descriptive.
November 26, 2012
Fascinating insight into two kindred spirits who live(d) and corresponded in the post-WWII era.
April 28, 2013
Very disappointing. Spread over a long period these letters do not present an exchange of correspondence so much as a reeling off of people seen and places visited. Tedious after a while.
December 27, 2022
The best parts are PLF's letters (some lengthy narratives) detailing travels in northern Greece and the Andes. Like PLF's books on Greece, they combine anecdotes, history, and folklore. DD's letters provide much on the Mitford sisters, with cameos by Harold MacMillan, JFK, Prince Charles, the Queen Mother, and many others.
July 15, 2017
I seem to read more about the Mitford sisters than is really necessary but this brought 2 people I was interested in together. Had discovered Fermor through Robert D. Kaplan and already knew about Debo through her sister connection and of course Chatsworth. The letters were actually reasonably interesting and it was nice to have the footnotes telling about people mentioned. Apparently there was no romance between "darling Debo" and Paddy but just a good long correspondence and friendship. The Mitford's were always into nicknames for each other and other people and I love her calling the Queen Mother, "Cake" because she got so excited when cake was being served! Between the 2 of them they seemed to know all of the upper class Brits including Debo's connection with Prince Charles. So this was better than a biography in that it was in their own words. Too bad that people don't write letters anymore. Charlotte Mosley (Debo's niece and Diana's daughter) seems to be keeping herself busy going through the family archives.
October 8, 2010
A wonderful window on a friendship that has stood the test of time. Reading these letters makes me want to give up email and go back to writing physical notes! PLF's travel writing is exactly what I like to read - descriptions of the flora and fauna, logistics of how one gets to various places (I hate it when people "magically" whisk from one continent to another and never mention HOW they travelled!), people, architecture, history etc, all with self-deprecating humor. Just reading about all his mountain hiking made me exhausted! And Debo's charming stories about estate matters, livestock, books, people and doings are warm and gossipy and interesting.
These two lived through an amazing amount of history - and continue to do so today. Their take on it all is another side of conflicts and personalities one might not have heard or known about before.
I've put on hold at my library all their books that are available, I do hope their other writing is as good as their letters!
These two lived through an amazing amount of history - and continue to do so today. Their take on it all is another side of conflicts and personalities one might not have heard or known about before.
I've put on hold at my library all their books that are available, I do hope their other writing is as good as their letters!
December 20, 2015
Decades of grand letter writing between two longstanding friends. I fear the future will no longer publish letter memoirs. How can they when no one saves email, and even email is a dying communication? Save Skyppe? What a life these two lead, and when writing each other it wasn't just factual day to day, although even "that" was interesting, but they brought wit and humor to the mix. The Duchess had a longstanding reputation within her Mitford family of being the nitwit. Her elder sister Nancy nicknamed her "Nine" to reflect her mental age. Hardly. When she died recently, and the staff, dressed in their work clothes, lined the drive as the hearse proceeded to the family chapel, and Prince Charles and his wife walked behind. What a grand sendoff to a grand lady. This book captures all of that and more.
December 12, 2018
A lovely back and forth between my main man, Patrick Leigh Fermor, and Deborah Cavendish (nee Mitford) Duchess of Devonshire, extending from the mid-1950's through the new millennium. Funny and insightful, and very poignant at the end. My only regret is that there weren't more letters from Paddy during his time writing the screenplay of "The Roots of Heaven", the film he was adapting from Romain Gary's novel, directed by John Huston and produced by Darryl Zanuck. The letters that are printed here are very tantalizing, with amazing word portraits of Huston, Zanuck, Juliette Greco (who Zanuck was sleeping with, and abusing), Trevor Howard, and Errol Flynn. If any other letters exist (sent, say, to Xan Fielding, or Diane Cooper, or Joan Monsell, or any of Paddy's numerous correspondents) I would dearly love to read them.
September 8, 2013
Highly recommended for enthusiasts of the Mitford Industry, but also for anyone who likes a lively exchange of letters between charming friends. Footnoted like crazy, so even if you don't know much about these folks to begin with, you will if you read all the footnotes. One correspondent, Deborah Mitford (Debo), the Duchess of Devonshire, maintains the fiction that she doesn't read or like books pretty much throughout, even while she's writing them (maybe that last that part is not so hard to believe), partly as a tease to the other correspondent, who is a writer (I love the letters in which he tells her where to find his books in her library). But if you are not either a Mitford fan or interested in the English upper classes, this is probably not for you.
June 15, 2015
This book gave me a desperate urge to find a pen friend to share an ongoing stream of witty observations and delightful descriptions. I feel rather sad that the art of letter writing is dying out and so there is something a little melancholy about this book. This is compounded by the correspondents descent into old age, illness and loss. The only thing that got me down a little was all the footnotes, which I suppose were needed but it spoiled the flow at times for me.
June 11, 2011
Five stars and I'm only halfway through...picked up as a companion read to Roumeli and can't put down! A great addition to anyone who has read any of the Mitfords and/or Fermor...pure joy...and IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!
Every page a delight...regretfully read the last page last night...this morning, read PLF's obituary with great sadness...what a gift he was to the world!
Every page a delight...regretfully read the last page last night...this morning, read PLF's obituary with great sadness...what a gift he was to the world!
December 29, 2012
I'm fascinated by how well the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire writes despite the fact that she never reads and had a very limited education. Her charm lies in her complete lack of ego or bile. She lived with a man who could embarrass her at the dinner table by getting stupidly drunk as well as by public exposure of prostitute relationships and seemed to accept it all without complaint.
April 26, 2013
Could there be better bathroom book than this? Sit, read a couple of letters, and then walk away enjoying a turn of phrase or a description of what
the D of D calls "the Kennedy Coronation." Patrick Leigh Fermor writes like a dream, and the D of D, being one of the fabulous Mitford sisters, expresses a quirky and amusing world view.
the D of D calls "the Kennedy Coronation." Patrick Leigh Fermor writes like a dream, and the D of D, being one of the fabulous Mitford sisters, expresses a quirky and amusing world view.
November 22, 2016
A good read, due to the excellence of Patrick Leigh Fermor's writing, his letters are wonderful, not so much Deborah Mitford's. She comes up as a fun person, but not very engaging, too snobbish for my taste. But Paddy is always interesting, his descriptions great, he was a force of nature and an admirable character.
September 3, 2010
Again, a Mitford sister with a talent for letter writing. Learning about Debo and Paddy and the frankly incredible lives they have led....witty one liners, shared 'in' jokes, a very warm and lovely read.
November 30, 2011
Correspondence between the youngest Mitford sister and Patrick L. Fermor, author of "A Time Of Gifts" and WWII hero. Fascinating and funny. Makes me like these people very much. Such a wonderful friendship and interesting lives.
February 17, 2012
Not PLF's finest writing, but a fleshing out of the man, and a nice chronicle of a fifty-year friendship: I prefer letters back-and-forth, as here, rather than all outward bound, such as in the TS Eliot I've just read as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews