Do you read? I love to read = nothing better I enjoy than some downtime with a good book, glass of wine and a cat curled up next to me. I’m not one to read non-fiction books unless it’s a self-help one. I love my romances, paranormals too much to divert time to non-fiction. Close-minded of me I know, but I read for enjoyment and escape. I don’t have a TV, my choice, so, I read.
I buy a lot of gardening books, for reference or pictures and ideas. So one day I was in the gardening department at Borders – god, I miss them! That particular day I happened to pick up a non-fiction book
Not sure what came over me!
But I am glad that I did. The book is titled ”Two Gardeners: A Friendship in Letters”, edited by Emily Herring Wilson.
It sat around for a while until I finally picked it up and started reading. What pure joy this book was for me. Girlfriends are the backbone of my life. They keep me sane and help me through the bad times and celebrate the good one. They love me unconditionally and cheer me on when I start something new – like this blog.
So, back to the book. The friendship is between Katherine S. White, an editor for the The New Yorker, and Elizabeth Lawrence, a well know southern writer and garden designer. The women were 62 and 54 at the time.
The letters started innocuously.
Elizabeth writing to Katherine with some ideas and advice in response to one of Katherine regular columns, “Onward and Upward in the Garden”. Katherine replied, and so a friendship started that lasted for twenty years until Katherine’s death in 1977.
After the Introduction and Editor’s notes, it is simply the letters between these two friends. Towards the end, after Katherine’s death, there are letters between Elizabeth and Katherine’s husband, E.B. White. E.B. White is the author of Charlotte’s Web.
The book is a fascinating look into a time period long gone. I highly recommend this book, it’s perfect for a rainy day, all curled up on the sofa, in front of a fire if possible! Enjoy and let me know what you think!
