Janet S. Bookman

Dear Ines ... Dear Janet: 50 Years of Transatlantic Letters Between Two Friends Janet S. Bookman

Dear Ines, Dear Janet is a unique correspondence between two women-one British andone American-from totally different backgrounds who became friends and wrote toeach other over a period of 50 years. Janet Bookman was born to an immigrant Jewish family from Eastern Europe. Her fatherspoke mainly Yiddish, and her mother had little formal education. Janet grew up in theBronx borough of New York City, found her way to Washington, married a news manand raised two children. Her friend, Ines Burrows, came from the British upper class, descended from foundersof The Times of London, and married a career diplomat who became Ambassador toTurkey and NATO, and represented Britain in the Persian Gulf. He was knighted for hiswork by the Queen. The two women met in Washington soon after World War II, became close friends, andwrote to each other over half a century until Ines died in 1997. Naturally they wrote aboutfamily problems (each raised teenagers in the Sixties), but also about what was going onin the world-Vietnam, U. S. and British elections, the glamorous life led by Ines andevents in Janet's more tranquil existence. These letters give unusual insight into the lives of two very interesting and articulatewomen-and into the qualities that can make for friendship-over the years and overthousands of Trans-Atlantic miles.