Instead of a Letter · A Memoir

As a young woman, Diana Athill was engaged to an air force pilot—*Instead of a Letter* tells how he broke off the engagement, married someone else, and, worst of all, died overseas before she could confront or forgive him. Evoking perfectly the picturesque country setting of her youth, this fearless and profoundly honest story of love and modern womanhood marks the beginning of Athill’s brilliant literary career.