Decca : the letters of Jessica Mitford / edited by Peter Y. Sussman

This collection of the correspondences of the late writer Jessica "Decca" Mitford (d. 1996) begins with notes to her mother in 1923 and concludes ten days before her death with a letter to her sister. In between, there are letters to her large circle of friends, business associates, and "frenemies." Letters were an essential part of Decca's life. As editor Sussman (coauthor, Committing Journalism: The Prison Writings of Red Hog) eloquently summarizes, they served as "chatty updates on her activities, masterful exercises in storytelling, and as early drafts for her professional writing." The chronological arrangement provides readers with an intimate glimpse of Decca's existence-e.g., the aristocratic English family from which she fled as a teenager, her work with the Communist Party and as a professional writer, and her emergence as a best-selling author (The American Way of Death). In the introductory essays preceding each of the nine sections, Sussman identifies people, puts events in historical context, and meticulously elaborates on elements in the letters. His analysis of Decca's influence on her immediate circle of intimates as well as her impact on the larger community-both national and international-is perceptive and illuminating.