BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 27 AUG. 1946
BRACERS 19833. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
The Hotel Portmeirion
Penrhyndeudraeth North Wales1
August 27, 1946

My dearest Colette

I was very glad to get your letter of July 31st2 about a week ago. I do hope you will be able to come to England before very long — it was so delightful seeing you again. After Oct. almost any time would be all right for me except school holidays. I have had only one letter from John3 lately, saying he proposes (for good practical legal reasons) to adopt his young woman’s child,4 and wishes it thought his, so please keep secret the fact that it is not.

The state of the world is so dreadful that it seems almost useless to think of it. Here, sea and mountains help one to keep one’s mind on less transitory matters. I keep on writing my big book on human knowledge,5 but doubt if there will be time for people to read it before the cataclysm.

Conrad6 is very satisfactory — he goes to Dartington7 next month. My address after Sp. 20 will be Trinity.

Are you going to live at Sundborn or in Finland? I should say Sweden would be better for political reasons.

Goodbye Colette Dearest. All love.

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200839.

• 2

  your letter of July 31st Not extant.

• 3

  John John Conrad Russell, born 16 November 1921 to BR and his wife Dora.

• 4

  his young woman’s child John’s young woman was Susan Doniphan Lindsay, the daughter of American poet Vachel Lindsay. She already had a daughter Felicity Anne from a previous relationship.

• 5

  my big book on human knowledge  Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits (B&R A83), published in October 1948.

• 6

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

• 7

  Dartington Dartington Hall, a progressive school in Devon, where BR’s older children, John and Kate, had also been educated after they left Beacon Hill School.