Darlinghissima by Janet Flanner

Janet Flanner was an American journalist who sent a Letter from Paris on European cultural, social and political life to the New Yorker magazine almost every week from 1925 to 1975. The letters here are the hundreds of private ones she wrote to her friend and lover, Natalia Danesi Murray, who writes that “Janet entered my life unexpectedly on a lively New York afternoon in early January 1940, and there she remained until her death at dawn on that sad November day (1978, aged 86). Our friendship—a passionate friendship—was nourished and flourished with World War II as its background. It was framed by two continents, North America and Europe... I realised how unique our relationship was, worth sharing with the world not only for the value of the letters per se, but also as a demonstration of how two women surmounted obstacles, trying to lead their personal and professional lives with dignity and feeling.” Public figures, writers and artists are encountered in these letters making a fascinating record not only of their relationship, but also of their experiences and perceptions of events world-wide from 1944 to 1975.