‘I imagined that my letters, which consisted of a highly romanticized account of life at Swinbrook, must bring great rays of joy into her otherwise drab existence . . . I made myself out to be a sort of cross between Little Lord Fauntleroy and Sarah in The Little Princess.’ – Jessica Mitford, Hons and Rebels
Greetings from No. 53 Hoxton Square, where the sun is shining through the office windows onto our desks as we open this week’s correspondence from our readers all over the world. We have been fortunate over the years to have received many delightful missives from readers far and wide in various forms, though nothing cheers us quite as much as an old-fashioned letter.
Back in May we released an out-of-series special episode of the Slightly Foxed Podcast with presenter Rosie Goldsmith in conversation with the author of My Salinger Year Joanna Rakoff. Joanna takes us deep into the strange, time-warped world she’s strayed into at The Agency, with its Selectric typewriters, filing cabinets and carbon paper, and into her unusual relationship with its best-known author J. D. Salinger, to whose mountain of fan mail it was Joanna’s job to reply. For those of you yet to listen, this episode is available to watch as a video on our new YouTube channel. It’s also available on our website and through our usual podcast platforms.
Please read on for a selection of kindred reading suggestions and a selection of favourite recent despatches from readers around the world.
With best wishes from the SF staff
Jess, Isabel, Rebecca, Izzy & Jennie
PS Renewed thanks to all those who have bought tickets for our Charity Prize Draw for BookTrust. 1500 tickets have now been sold! The draw is running until 16 Sept and tickets will be available until that date or until they sell out. There are only 4,500 tickets available and, once gone, they’re gone . . . View tickets
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