Instead of a Letter

By Diana Athill

Book Overview

When Diana Athill, nearly forty-three and far from a household name, sat down to write Instead of a Letter, the first in her series of trailblazing memoirs, she was looking for an answer to the question "What have I lived for?" In this searching book, she recalls her child-hood on her grandparents' magnificent estate, the teenage romance that was certain to lead to marriage, her university days coinciding with the Second World War, and the sudden dissolution of her engagement, a loss that became the defining experience of the next twenty years of her life. Athill is as forthright in confessing her faults as she is in celebrating her triumphs. "From this table, with this white tea-cup, full ashtray, and small glass half full of rum beside me," she writes, "I see my story, ordinary enough though it has all been and sad though much of it was, as a success story."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 168137613X
• ISBN13: 9781681376134
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: New York Review of Books, Incorporated, The
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Highly Evocative

Diana Athill's memoir Instead of a Letter was first published in 1962 and has now been reissued, fortunately for readers who enjoy reading about the lives of vibrant, interesting people, especially when those lives are also evocative of vanished times. Athill was born in 1917 into a family which, if not aristocratic or landed gentry, was definitely upper middle class, with a large estate overseen by many servants. Diana's parents gradually became poorer and poorer throughout her youth, and she eventually found it necessary to earn her own living with a publishing company. Her personal life was varied and tumultuous, with her first lover eventually breaking their engagement while serving in World War II and then getting himself killed in battle. Athill writes clearly, with plenty of time for personal reflection and introspection. Her book is also a fairly good social history of the changes Britain went through from World War I to the early 1960s. I grew to like and admire her quite a bit while I read Instead of a Letter, and I was pleased to find that she has since produced several other memoirs.

Why didn't I know about this book earlier?

I like memoirs generally but I loved this memoir. Her writing is amazingly alive and her story honest.

A Minor Classic

This is a brilliant autobiography by a well-known figure in the publishing world. First published in 1962, this book falls into the great tradition of autobiographical writings by female British authors in the middle decades of the 20th century, including Nancy and Jessica Mitford, Monica Dickens, and Barbara Pym. Athill is more serious than these writers, but also more literary. She describes her childhood and youth as a member of the poor end of a wealthy family, her failed first love (which nearly ruined her sense of self), and her struggle to come back to life. Although this may sound depressing, it is not. Athill's way with words and her insightful and detached view of her own life engrossed me from beginning to end.Athill claimed that she had written this book to discover the truth about herself and about what her life has been for. A very honest book by a very good writer.