The letters in this volume were written by Rose Macaulay to her younger sister, Jean, between 1926 and her death in 1958. These were the years when she was at the height of her powers and when her reputation was spreading beyond the more limited circles which had appreciated her earlier novels. She had found in broadcasting a new medium of self-expression, she was contributing articles to the daily and weekly press, and in the literary world of those years she had become an established figure, admired, enjoyed and, by some, feared. At the same time she reacted strongly and with characteristic individuality to the political events that over-shadowed the world. All this is recorded in the correspondence with her sister who, in complete contrast, was immersed in a life of devoted personal service as a district nurse. Hence these letters to her are more than a family document, they are a commentary on her daily life and an illumination of the wider world from which her sister was inevitably separated. They display a quality of spontaneity, a mixture of deep feelings, pungency and wit, and above all they convey to the reader the feeling that he is listening to her vivid conversation.
