BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 16 JULY 1946
BRACERS 19832. ALS. McMaster. SLBR 2: #474
Edited by S. Turcon and N. Griffin. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

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The Hotel Portmeirion
Penrhyndeudraeth North Wales1
July 16, 1946

My dearest Colette

It was a great joy to get your letter of July 6,2 and to know where you are and something of what you are feeling. — I have to apologize for a mistake. I forgot my mother’s brush3 was for Kate,4 and told Peter5 it was for her. She was much touched and very grateful, and I haven’t the heart to say it was a mistake. So if she writes and thanks you please don’t disclaim her thanks. — We are in Wales for the summer, but better address your letters to Trinity as we shall move about. This place is perfect for Conrad,6 who has learnt to swim and dive and is practising rock-climbing. We hope the cottage we have bought7 near here may be habitable at Xmas, but not before.

John plans to marry an American girl8 whom I don’t know — aged 19, has a husband,9 and a child by another man,10 and a child by John on the way.11 It doesn’t sound too good, but he and she are coming to England in October so we shall see. The navy has done with him.12 Kate seems stuck in America,13 and I suppose will marry an American.

I should love to have a visit from you, but I am afraid October would not be a good moment, as I am likely to be much taken up with John, who has been going through complicated spiritual crises,14 and will need lots of talk — and I shall have to try and like his young woman. November might be possible, but I hardly know till John comes. — Goodbye dearest Colette. My deepest love now and always.

Your
B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200838.

• 2

  your letter of July 6 Sent from Raahe, Finland (BRACERS 19832).

• 3

  my mother’s brush BR had given Colette his mother’s hair-brush, which she still had in 1939 when she called it her most treasured possession. BR must have asked for it back earlier in 1946. The admission that he had given the brush to Peter must have been difficult for Colette.

• 4

  Kate Katharine Jane Russell, born 29 December 1923 to BR and his wife Dora. Her surname became Tait upon her marriage.

• 5

  Peter Patricia (“Peter”) Russell, née Spence (1910–2004). She and BR were married from 1936 until 1952.

• 6

  Conrad Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, born 15 April 1937 to BR and his wife Patricia.

• 7

  the cottage we have bought Penralltgoch in Llan Ffestiniog, Merioneth, Wales. A former village school, it required renovations.

• 8

  marry an American girl Susan Doniphan Lindsay, the daughter of the American poet Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931). The couple married in August 1946.

• 9

  has a husband Maurice Friedman, whom Susan had married in December 1945.

• 10

  a child by another man Felicity Anne, whom John would adopt. Anne had been born three months before Susan married Friedman. Anne’s father is not known.

• 11

  a child by John on the way Sarah Elizabeth, who was born on 16 January 1947.

• 12

  The navy has done with him John had been sent to Washington, DC, rather than the Far East, for his navy posting. After leaving the navy, he took a job, arranged by Ted Lloyd, with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization also in Washington.

• 13

  stuck in America This odd turn of phrase indicates BR’s feeling about America but not Kate’s. Kate was studying for a doctorate in German at Radcliffe College which was affiliated with Harvard.

• 14

  complicated spiritual crises In 1945 John had been troubled by the continual disagreements in his extended family. By April 1946 John was writing to his father about his belief in God and his homosexuality (letters of 15 and 25 April 1946; BRACERS 111170–111171).