Love Letters

"It was the middle of the Second World War, and Trekkie, a painter and book illustrator, was married to the publisher Ian Parsons, who later became Leonard's colleague. Leonard was 61, Trekkie 39. He wanted her to get a divorce and marry him but instead she persuaded him to move next door in London and spent the weekends with him at Monks House in Rodmell. When Ian came back from the war, the Parsons moved into the flat above Leonard's, and also bought a house near his in Sussex. Trekkie was a feisty, principled, Scottish feminist - she had never wanted a husband and now, it seemed, she had two at once. She spent the weekends with Ian and the week with Leonard: she took holidays with them separately, acted as hostess for them both, and told no-one about the way they lived. The arrangement worked smoothly for the next twenty-five years - an inventive and honest solution for a woman who loved two men in different ways at the same time.