Background to the Letters
When my mother died suddenly in 1979 at the age of 57 we were shocked, upset and didn't know what to do. It fell to me and one of my brothers, Paul, to empty her flat. Furniture and household equipment was easy but what to do with 'stuff'? Letters, photos and other ephemera went into a suitcase which I have carried around Britain with me ever since. This year, 2017, has been a horrible year for our family. Both my brothers, John and Paul, got prostate cancer and while they were both very ill Paul asked to see some family photos, so for the first time in 38 years I opened the suitcase. Amongst the papers and photos, I kept coming across letters from my grandmother to (mainly) her son, my father, her favourite. She never did approve of my mother who was Catholic, and was horrified that my father had changed his religion to marry Mum. My aunts used to tell me how spoiled he was, his 3 older sisters had to wait on him, clean his shoes and put up with it when he stole their...