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'An absorbing volume' - The Spectator
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First published in 1989, A Particular Friendship is a collection of letters following Dirk Bogarde's first four memoirs.
'London guests staying hate it. Keeps them awake all night they complain. The bleating in the utter stillness. I heal with it, as you did.'
This epistolary collection finds Bogarde at his most honest and touching, engaging in conversation with a woman he has never met and whose only interest in him comes from the simple fact that he now happens to live in a house that she once owned.
These letters provide an insight into the wit and intelligence of a great man without the stifling constraints of other literary forms. It presents us with a platform and a relationship that allows Bogarde to freely reminisce, discuss politics, gossip about those around him and provide razor-sharp cameo portraits of the famous. The correspondences were all written before Bogarde saw himself as an author and stand as a testament to his literary talent, domestic sensibilities, and his unquestionable compassion in sharing so much with a complete stranger.
