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Letters From Brenda: Two suitcases. 75 lost letters. One mother.
by Emma Kennedy'A beautiful, hilarious and bittersweet book' Mel Giedroyc'This book made me cry' Sara CoxAfter her mother, Brenda, passed away and her father sold the family home, broadcaster and writer Emma Kennedy found herself floundering, unable to make peace with the complex, charismatic woman who had been her mum. And then they found the letters . . .This heartbreakingly funny book about the impact of discovering lost letters is a celebration of correspondence; those lost acts of penned love, the vivid snapshots in time scattered back through a life.It is also about a childhood shrouded in shame, the lies Brenda told her family, the madness that set in, and ultimately what it means to be a daughter and a mother. Finally, Emma allows herself to explore what she couldn't while she was growing up: the question of who her mother really was.'Beautiful . . . insightful, fascinating and moving. It's a lovely LOVELY book' Marian Keyes'Remarkable' Dawn French
Letters From Brenda: Two suitcases. 75 lost letters. One mother.
by Emma Kennedy'A beautiful, hilarious and bittersweet book' Mel Giedroyc'This book made me cry' Sara CoxAfter her mother, Brenda, passed away and her father sold the family home, broadcaster and writer Emma Kennedy found herself floundering, unable to make peace with the complex, charismatic woman who had been her mum. And then they found the letters . . .This heartbreakingly funny book about the impact of discovering lost letters is a celebration of correspondence; those lost acts of penned love, the vivid snapshots in time scattered back through a life.It is also about a childhood shrouded in shame, the lies Brenda told her family, the madness that set in, and ultimately what it means to be a daughter and a mother. Finally, Emma allows herself to explore what she couldn't while she was growing up: the question of who her mother really was.'Beautiful . . . insightful, fascinating and moving. It's a lovely LOVELY book' Marian Keyes'Remarkable' Dawn French
Letters From Brenda: Two suitcases. 75 lost letters. One mother.
by Emma KennedyAfter her mother, Brenda, passed away and her father sold the family home, broadcaster and writer Emma Kennedy found herself floundering, unable to make peace with the complex, charismatic woman who had been her mum. And then they found the letters . . .This heartbreakingly funny book about the impact of discovering lost letters is a celebration of correspondence; those lost acts of penned love, the vivid snapshots in time scattered back through a life.It is also about a childhood shrouded in shame, the lies Brenda told her family, the madness that set in, and ultimately what it means to be a daughter and a mother. Finally, Emma allows herself to explore what she couldn't while she was growing up: the question of who her mother really was.(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Letters From Burma
by Aung San Suu KyiLetters from Burma - an unforgettable collection from the Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu KyiIn these astonishing letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma's borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land.Here she celebrates the courageous army officers, academics, actors and everyday people who have supported the National League for Democracy, often at great risk to their own lives. She reveals the impact of political decisions on the people of Burma, from the terrible cost to the children of imprisoned dissidents - allowed to see their parents for only fifteen minutes every fortnight - to the effect of inflation on the national diet and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. She also evokes the beauty of the country's seasons and scenery, customs and festivities that remain so close to her heart.Through these remarkable letters, the reader catches a glimpse of exactly what is at stake as Suu Kyi fights on for freedom in Burma, and of the love for her homeland that sustains her non-violent battle.Includes an introduction from Fergal Keane'Aung San Suu Kyi has become a global symbol of peaceful resistance, courage and apparently endless endurance' Guardian'A real hero in an age of phony phone-in celebrity, which hands out that title freely to the most spoiled and underqualified' Bono, TimeAung San Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy. She was placed under house arrest in Rangoon in 1989, where she remained for almost 15 of the 21 years until her release in 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners. She is also the author of the collection of writings Freedom from Fear.
Letters From Flanders Written By 2nd Lieut. A. D. Gillespie, Argyll And Sutherland Highlanders
by Lieutenant Alexander Douglas GillespieThe sight of the kilted Highland regiment has always struck such fear into their Germans opponents of both World Wars; known to their Teutonic foes as the "Ladies from Hell" for their attire and fighting prowess. The memories of those brave Celtic Warriors fighting across the mud of Flanders remains in the swirl of the bagpipe laments, faded pictures and memoirs from their ranks. The letters of two brothers Alexander and Thomas Gillespie still do survive, from the lowlands of Scotland, volunteered to serve in the British Army almost as soon as the war broke out leaving behind a career in law and academia respectively. They did not long have to wait to be thrown into the holocaust of the front lines; Tom was posted to the King's Own Scottish Borderers and was immediately under the shellfire of the battle of the Marne and the Race to the sea before he was killed in action on October 18 1914 near La Bassée. Despite his brother's ultimate sacrifice Alexander went forward to the front in February 1915 with the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He led his men forward, as part of the first wave of the great push of the 19th Brigade on Cambrin Road, into the horrific shellfire and gas at the opening of the battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915. He was the only officer that made it to the German position that was their objective, but there he fell beneath the German fire.A fine set of letters from the front lines of Flanders by two Scottish officers.
Letters From Lockdown: Famous faces, frontline workers and stay-at-home heroes reflect on the year everything changed
by Natasha KaplinskyIntroduced by newsreader, presenter, and Barnardo's president Natasha Kaplinsky, Letters From Lockdown features 100+ letters from celebrity names, COVID heroes, and a diverse range of members of the public, all answering the question - 'What was lockdown like for you?'Contributors include: Paul McCartney · Joe Wicks · Malala · Ed Sheeran · Helen Mirren · Mary Berry · Richard Branson · Andy Murray · Helena Bonham Carter · Lenny Henry · Romesh Ranganathan · The family of Captain Tom · Bear Grylls · Dr Alex George · Jacqueline Wilson · Matt Lucas · Bill Gates · Sir Mo Farah and many more.The publisher will donate all profits, which will be a minimum of £1.50 for each copy of the book sold, to Barnardo's (registered charity in England and Wales no. 216250), who do important work to protect and support the UK's most vulnerable children.The letter writers include doctors and nurses, care home staff and vaccinators, train drivers, teachers and environmentalists - people who have been on the frontline tackling the pandemic, or in trying to get the world back on its feet. Other letters document the unforgettable lighter moments of the past year: interviews crashed by children, TikTok disasters, and goats joining Zoom meetings. Each offers their unique perspective on the year everything changed. As we keep our fingers crossed that this summer will bring a safe end to restrictions, this mixture of funny, sad, heart-warming, heroic and honest experiences will mark the start of a period of reflection.Adrian Packer, Al Gore, Alex George, Alexandra Shulman, Ali Mercer, Alice M Greenwald, Ali Joy, Andy Murray, Antony Cauvin, Anushua Gupta, Bear Grylls, Benjie and Georgia Ingram-Moore, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Bob Wilson, Boris Johnson, Bruno Tonioli, Buckingham Palace, Charly Cox, Chimwemwe Chiweza, Chris and Vicki Agar, Chris Van Dusen, Clare Wenham, Colette Moreira-Henocq, Cressida Cowell, Davey Glover, Davina McCall, Dawn Bilbrough, Dot McCarthy, Ed Balls, Ed Sheeran, Elliot Jacobs, Emma Freud and Richard Curtis, Fergus Llewellyn, George Alagiah, Gill Edwards, Hayden Kays, Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter, Hollie Long, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jacqueline Wilson, Jacquie Jenkins, James Graham, Jenny Messenger, Jo Malone, Joan Collins, Joe Wicks, John Vincent, Josie Naughton, Kathryn England, Karen Pollock, Karl Jones, Keir Starmer, Kelly Holmes, Laura Elliott, Lenny Henry, Lindsay Hoyle, Maff Potts, Maia Elliott, Malala Yousafzai, Margaret Keenan, Marie Benton, Mark Ronson, Maro Itoje, The Marsh Family, Mary Berry, Matt Lucas, Meggie Foster, Michele Walter, Mo Farah, Monica Galetti, Mr Men's Mr Happy, Neera Butt, Nicola Adams, Nina Raingold, Patricia Daley, Paul Atherton, Paul McCartney, Paul Morrison, Paula Talman, Peppa Pig, Philippa Craddock, Raymond Blanc, Rene Germain, Richard Branson, Roja Dove, Romesh Ranganathan, Rosie Jones, Rosie Mitchell, Sandi Procter, Scott Evans, Sean Fitzpatrick, Sharna Jackson, Sita Brahmachari, Sophie Gonzales, Tamara Rojo, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Tessa Mattholie Butunoi, Tim Peake, Tim Steiner, Toby Regbo, Trevor McDonald, Will Shu, Woody, Zoe Burke
Letters From Oregon Boys in France 1917-1918
by VariousAs the military and industrial might of the United States turned to enter the First World War, boys and men from all of America enlisted, volunteered and were drafted into the armed forces. As a small microcosm of the millions that served, these 45 letters from the Front offer an insight into the fighting men. The collection of letters is as varied as the men that wrote them, ranging from Railway engineers, to naval officers, to ordinary soldiers at the front. A Flavour of the American war effort in the First World War.Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in Portland, Glass and Prudhomme, 1917-18Original Page Count - 128 pages.
Letters From Prison
by Richard Seaver Marquis De SadeThe 1990s have seen a resurgence of interest in the Marquis de Sade, with several biographies competing to put their version of his life story before the public. But Sadean scholar Richard Seaver takes us directly to the source, translating Sade's prison correspondence. Seaver's translations retain the aristocratic hauteur of Sade's prose, which still possesses a clarity that any reader can appreciate. "When will my horrible situation cease?" he wrote to his wife shortly after his incarceration began in 1777. "When in God's name will I be let out of the tomb where I have been buried alive? There is nothing to equal the horror of my fate!" But he was never reduced to pleading for long, and not always so solicitous of his wife's feelings; a few years later, he would write, "This morning I received a fat letter from you that seemed endless. Please, I beg of you, don't go on at such length: do you believe that I have nothing better to do than to read your endless repetitions?" For those interested in learning about the man responsible for some of the most infamous philosophical fiction in history, Letters from Prison is an indispensable collection.
Letters From The Suitcase
by Cal Finnigan Rosheen FinniganTHE LETTERS FROM THE SUITCASE by Rosheen and Cal Finnigan reveals the detailed and poignant wartime romance between David and Mary Francis. For readers of 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 and David Francis were only twenty-one and nineteen when they met in 1938. They fell in love instantly, and against the wishes of David's parents, they lived together and married, in secret. These poignant letters reveal their intelligence and thoughtfulness, their passion, the everyday 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, and Mary's experience of bringing up a small baby alone in London. David was to die in India, five years after their first encounter, though his letters continued to reach Mary long after the event. At heart, this is the story of a young couple who were utterly devoted to one another. It is also the story of a father that Rosheen Finnigan never knew but came to love.
Letters From The Suitcase
by Cal Finnigan Rosheen FinniganTHE LETTERS FROM THE SUITCASE by Rosheen and Cal Finnigan reveals the detailed and poignant wartime romance between David and Mary Francis. For readers of 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 and David Francis were only twenty-one and nineteen when they met in 1938. They fell in love instantly, and against the wishes of David's parents, they lived together and married, in secret. These poignant letters reveal their intelligence and thoughtfulness, their passion, the everyday 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, and Mary's experience of bringing up a small baby alone in London. David was to die in India, five years after their first encounter, though his letters continued to reach Mary long after the event. At heart, this is the story of a young couple who were utterly devoted to one another. It is also the story of a father that Rosheen Finnigan never knew but came to love.
Letters From The Suitcase
by Cal Finnigan Rosheen FinniganTHE 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.(P)2017 Headline Publishing Group Limited
Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs
by Mary E. LyonsBased on the true story of Harriet Ann Jacobs, Letters from a Slave Girl reveals in poignant detail what thousands of African American women had to endure not long ago, sure to enlighten, anger, and never be forgotten.Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery; it's the only life she has ever known. Now, with the death of her mistress, there is a chance she will be given her freedom, and for the first time Harriet feels hopeful. But hoping can be dangerous, because disappointment is devastating. Harriet has one last hope, though: escape to the North. And as she faces numerous ordeals, this hope gives her the strength she needs to survive.
Letters From the Palazzo Barbaro
by Henry JamesThe novelist Henry James arrived in Venice as a tourist, and instantly fell in love with the city - particularly with the splendid Palazzo Barbaro, home of the expatriate American Curtis family. This selection of letters covers the period 1869-1907 and provides a unique record of the life and work of this great writer.Includes historical photographs and a foreword by Leon Edel, Henry James's biographer.
Letters Home
by Ramsay RamsayThere have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Empire Windrush has long had an iconic status in British and Caribbean history. This book, largely told in the form of diary entries and letters home, reveals the day to day experience of the first immigrants, and the far-reaching effects on their lives and relationships. Jen has left a young daughter, Sunshine, in Jamaica, and in these letters to her daughter, she attempts to make sense of the dislocation and displacement she experiences, her response, and the effect on those close to her. A companion novel to Aunt Jen, Letters Home is a penetrating and devastating study of the immigrant experience in 1960s Britain, and its long-lasting consequences.Suitable for readers aged 16 and above.
Letters Home (Caribbean Modern Classics)
by Ramsay RamsayThere have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Empire Windrush has long had an iconic status in British and Caribbean history. This book, largely told in the form of diary entries and letters home, reveals the day to day experience of the first immigrants, and the far-reaching effects on their lives and relationships. Jen has left a young daughter, Sunshine, in Jamaica, and in these letters to her daughter, she attempts to make sense of the dislocation and displacement she experiences, her response, and the effect on those close to her. A companion novel to Aunt Jen, Letters Home is a penetrating and devastating study of the immigrant experience in 1960s Britain, and its long-lasting consequences.Suitable for readers aged 16 and above.
Letters Home to Sarah
by Guy C. TaylorForgotten for more than a century in an old cardboard box, these are the letters of Guy Carlton Taylor, a farmer who served in the Thirty-Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. From March 23, 1864, to July 14, 1865, Taylor wrote 165 letters home to his wife Sarah and their son Charley. From the initial mustering and training of his regiment at Camp Randall in Wisconsin, through the siege of Petersburg in Virginia, General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and the postwar Grand Review of the Armies parade in Washington, D. C. , Taylor conveys in vivid detail his own experiences and emotions and shows himself a keen observer of all that is passing around him. While at war, he contracts measles, pneumonia, and malaria, and he writes about the hospitals, treatments, and sanitary conditions that he and his comrades endured during the war. Amidst the descriptions of soldiering, Taylor's letters to Sarah are threaded with the concerns of a young married couple separated by war but still coping together with childrearing and financial matters. The letters show, too, Taylor's transformation from a lonely and somewhat disgruntled infantryman to a thoughtful commentator on the greater ideals of the war. This remarkable trove of letters, which had been left in the attic of Taylor's former home in Cashton, Wisconsin, was discovered by local historian Kevin Alderson at a household auction. Recognizing them for the treasure they are, Alderson bought the letters and, aided by his wife Patsy, painstakingly transcribed the letters and researched Taylor's story in Wisconsin and at historical sites of the Civil War. The Aldersons' preface and notes are augmented by an introduction by Civil War historian Kathryn Shively Meier, and the book includes photographs, maps, and illustrations related to Guy Taylor's life and letters.
Letters My Mother Never Read: An Abandoned Child's Journey
by Jerri Diane SueckThe true story of Jerri, whose mother died when she was 8 and whose extended family wouldn't take care of her. Describes Jerri's time in foster care and a group home. Jerri eventually graduates from college and leads a successful life.
Letters Of A Canadian Stretcher Bearer
by Anna Chapin Ray Anon - R.A.L.The witty, bitter and caustic memoirs of an anonymous Canadian stretcher-bearer who served during some of the fiercest fighting on the Western Front in 1916 and 1917 before being invalided back to his native land."FOR military reasons, it has been judged wiser to withhold the full name of the Canadian Stretcher Bearer until the close of the war."However, it may interest his readers to know that he is an Old Country-man, although he is now in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and earlier had lived in the States. On the 31st May, 1915, he enlisted. Six weeks later, with the earliest of our letters, we find him in England, and rebelling against the unsatisfactory nature of service in what he caustically terms a Safety-First battalion. It was only a matter of time, however, before he caused himself to be transferred to hospital service, crossing to France to take a place as orderly in No. 3 Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne, where he arrived early in 1916. From that time on until the 23rd August, 1917, when he was gassed and sent to Blighty, the story has been left entirely in his own hands, to tell it as convincingly as may be."Since then, he has been, first in hospital in England, then in the First Reserve Battalion, awaiting the call back to service in the trenches."This call, however, is sounding fainter and more remote. A cable has been received, this morning, saying that he is being sent back to Canada, his active service at an end." OTTAWA, Fifth December, 1917
Letters Of A Chasseur À Pied: Letters From A Chasseur À Pied (Williams-ford Texas A&m University Military History Ser. #83)
by Anon Sergeant Robert PellissierThe amazing story of a French American teacher who left his life at Stanford college to volunteer for the French Army, in the elite chasseurs-à-pied, during the First World War.Although born in France Robert Pellissier in 1882, he moved to America in 1882 to live with his sister. A gifted scholar of ardent professionalism, he studied at Harvard and taught at Williston College and Stanford. However when war broke out in Europe his morals would not allow him to sit idly by whilst France was invaded and European civilisation was under assault. He wrote home obsessively, to his parents, his fiancée and his colleagues describing with great passion the fight for justice that he had embarked on. Filling with wry humour, contemporary political commentary, and most often an sense of the insanity of war. For example, with bitter irony, he quotes the idiocy of an the outdated war manual he had been given in one of his letters-'Any disengaged body of troops should right away march to the firing line'- a death sentence in the trenches!In late 1914 he was posted to the inhospitable mountainous region in the north of France the Vosges, after an abortive offensive earlier the year the French only held the rocky outcrops out of all of the Alsace region. But Pellissier and his comrades would cling on to their foothold tenaciously for national honour; he was wounded and invalided out of the frontline in 1915. He was promoted to become an sergeant in 1916, he returned to the front in time to be engaged in the brutal fighting during the battle of Hartmannweilerskopf where he and his men fought on for 53 days without relief, which could not be effected due to the heavy German bombardment. It was during the battle of the Somme in 1916 that Sergeant Pellissier eventually met his end, at least on the soil of his beloved France.
Letters Of Henry Weston Farnsworth, Of The Foreign Legion
by Henry Weston FarnsworthThe French Army have had numerous foreign regiments in its service for centuries; however, few have the mystique and elite status of the French Foreign Legion. It became a haven for the rough, tough, and adventure-seeking crowds of all of Europe. Bred with a fierce and disciplined esprit de corps, these soldiers could expect to fight France's enemies even in the most desperate of circumstances.With the clouds of war gathering over Europe in the early years of the Twentieth Century, the Legion attracted volunteers from even further afield, including the wealthy American adventurer and traveller Henry Weston Farnsworth. He volunteered for service early in late 1914 and was thrown together with a diverse bunch of men from a number of countries, some of whom he would bond with closely. His pen portraits in his letters to his family are filled with these characters and the experiences he had in the front-lines. However, Farnsworth would fight among his new friends for only a few months as the fighting in France grew ever more fierce and his unit was thrown into the battles in Champagne during which he died.
Letters Of Sylvia Townsend Warner
by S WarnerVery early in her career Sylvia Townsend Warner won recognition of a discerning group of writers and readers on both sides of rare imagination and originality increased with each new publication. In addition to publishing some twenty books she wrote thousands of letters, mainly to close friends and acquaintances, and these quite naturally provide a record of almost fifty years of the writer’s life.As the editor of the selection says, she had a connoisseur’s eye for the bogus and a hatred for assumptions of privilege – her heart was with the hunted, always, and her deep understanding of human behaviour makes the whole a remarkably compassionate volume. Her interests are wide-ranging, and we read of the pleasures of travel, Proust’s shortcomings as a literary critic, current politics, Rupert Brooke at the Café Royal, an eccentric moorhen, the Spanish Civil War.Above all, apart from their intrinsic interest and literary quality, Miss Warner’s letters reveal the special brand of wit and humour that pervades every word she writes.
Letters Of The Century: America 1900-1999
by Lisa Grunwald Stephen J. AdlerMore than 400 letters from famous people and regular citizens giving voice to events throughout the century.
Letters To A Young Doctor
by Richard SelzerHighly candid, insightful, and unexpectedly humorous essays on both the brutality and the beauty of the profession in which saving and losing lives is all in a day’s work. A timeless collection by the “best of the writing surgeons” (Chicago Tribune). With a Preface written by the Author especially for this edition.
Letters To My Grandchildren: Lessons For The Future
by Tony BennAs a diarist I have chronicled the time through which I have lived in meticulous detail: but all that is history. What matters now is the future for those who will live through it.The past is the past but there may be lessons to be learned which could help the next generation to avoid mistakes their parents and grandparents made.Certainly at my age I have learned an enormous amount from the study of history - not so much from the political leaders of the time but from those who struggled for justice and explained the world in a way that shows the continuity of history and has inspired me to do my work.Normality for any individual is what the world is like on the day they are born. The normality of the young is wholly different from the normality of their grandparents.It is the disentangling of the real questions from the day to day business of politics that may make sense for those who take up the task as they will do.Every generation has to fight the same battles as their ancestors had to fight, again and again, for there is no final victory and no final defeat. Two flames have burned from the beginning of time - the flame of anger against injustice and the flame of hope. If this book serves its purpose it will fan both flames.
Letters To Poseidon
by Cees Nooteboom'I had been looking for someone to write to for a long time, but how does a man write letters to a god?' From his Mediterranean garden on the island of Menorca, Cees Nooteboom writes to the trident-wielding deity, Poseidon, 'initiating a dialogue not only with the past,' as Alberto Manguel observes in his Preface, 'but with an entire world that seemed lost for ever.' Offering a seductive interweaving of keen observation and the fruits of a vast knowledge, Nooteboom explores questions of human existence through the minutiae of the living world around him, and marvels at the secrets of the deep. He recalls figures in history, places he has travelled to, objets trouvés, works of art and literature, and takes a fresh look at the ancient myths. At once playful and poignant, beautiful and bizarre, Nooteboom's Letters to Poseidon are couched in the glittering prose of one of Europe's outstanding stylists.