Description: These lively and candid letters from Rose Macaulay to her first cousin Jean Smith are previously unknown. Macaulay was one of the most versatile, successful, and significant writers in the first half of the twentieth century, Smith a talented but diffident and depressive poet who was briefly an Anglican nun before converting to Roman Catholicism. The letters throw fascinating and often amusing light not only on the writer's private life, unconventional character, and varied career, but also on the lively literary and social circles in which she moved. They are essential reading for all interested in British literary culture and women's writing.
Brief description: Martin Ferguson Smith is Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Durham
Review Quotes:
'A valuable addition to our knowledge of Macaulay.'
The Times Literary Supplement
English Studies 'Superbly edited.'
The Tablet 'These "new" letters ... illuminate the writer's life and career, and the literary and social scene, especially in the years that followed the First World War.'
Sir Simon Jenkins 'Offers fascinating insights into the 20th-century cultural scene.'
Choice 'Full of previously buried treasure.'
A.N. Wilson 'Wonderfully expansive notes ... decorate the letters like illuminated miniatures.'
Church Times