Epistolary fiction and non-fiction

[whatausername]

Can anyone recommend either a collection of letters (e.g. Jane Austen Selected Letters) or an epistolary novel (e.g. Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Olinda)? I rather enjoy the format of such books and would like to read more. Bonus points if the novels are of a different style to the two mentioned above. Whilst enjoyable and interesting, they aren't my favourites. Extremely heavy on romance, virtue and proclamations of love.

The sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs is another cracking read but also problematic.

In Dear Enemy Judy's friend Sally takes on the management of the childrens' home and the book is Sally's letters to Judy and to the home's doctor. Unfortunately the doctor is committed not just to the health and welfare of the children but also to science, and is a massive enthusiast for eugenics, including recommending some books on heredity that were believed in during the early 1920s but now discredited.

Those bits are hard to read knowing what we know now, but even so the book is entertaining and enjoyable account of a young educated woman making her way. And finding lurve, of course.

It does also raise that question of what things intelligent well-meaning people accept as fact now that the future might see as dodgy.

Specialised but jolly good exchange of letters between two great gardeners, Dear Friend and Gardener by Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd.

Ella Minnow Pea.