LETTER FROM VERA BRITTAIN
Why "Testament of Friendship" Was Written Miss G. M. Glanville, who recently reviewed "Testament of Friendship" from 3YA Christchurch, has received the following interesting letter from the author, Vera Brittain. We are permitted to print it in full: As from 2 Cheyne Walk London SW3 Ship Hotel, Swanage. June 7, 1940. Dear Miss Glanville, Please forgive me for replying to your letter from an hotel. I am at Swanage for my daughter’s half term celebrations; she is at school here. We hope it is a safe area, though nowhere on this island (which is gradually changing into a fortress) is now really safe. I am so glad to have your kind letter and to know that you have reviewed "Testament of Friendship" over the air-also "South Riding" and "Letters to a Friend." One of my own chief objects in writing "Testament of Friendship" was to make Winifred Holtby’s work better known in many parts of the world where she was only a name, and it does seem to be achieving this object. I have had letters from all over the world during the past six months from reviewers and broadcasters who tell me that, thanks to my book, they have drawn new attention to those which Winifred wrote. I feel a sense of personal gratitude to
you and others who have done this. The situation which confronts us here is a great deal more dreadful to-day than it was whén you wrote me on April 12. All literary
and artistic life is at a standstill; in fact everything has sunk below the horizon but the emergency itself. It seems, at this moment, more than probable that my nursing experience of the last war, related in
"Testament of. Youth," may well be called on again. I am glad you talked to hospital nurses about Winifred Holtby. Yours sincerely,
VERA
BRITTAIN.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19400816.2.66
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 60, 16 August 1940, Page 43
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313LETTER FROM VERA BRITTAIN New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 60, 16 August 1940, Page 43
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