The fascinating letters between Vera Brittain and Winifred Hotlby, written from 1920 to 1935, tell the story of an extraordinary friendship that created a model for a new kind of independent woman, after the First World War.
This is a literary relationship that began when the women met at Somerville, Cambridge and lasted until Winifred''s early death at the age of 35. The letters that kept Vera Brittain and Winifred ''continuously together'' shows us the inner life of two women who wished to make their mark on the world. They wrote about their ambitions and encouraged and advised each other. But there were also periods when they were literary rivals (Winifred landed a book deal first) and the letters show them negotiating envy and self-doubt. It was at times an uneven relationship: Vera, five years older, married and had two children during this period, and her Testament of Youth became a bestseller, while Winifred remained a single woman with an adventurous spi
