Dearest Jane ...

Jane Torday is a freelance writer specialising in gardening, food, social and oral history, and family memoir. She lives in Northumberland.

ROGER MORTIMER was born in 1909 and educated at Eton and RMC Sandhurst. In 1930 he was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards and saw action in Palestine eight years later. He fought with the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium in 1940 and was taken as a POW for the remainder of the war. He left the army in 1947 and became, among other things, racing correspondent for the Sunday Times for almost thirty years. He wrote several classic books on racing including The History of the Derby. He met Cynthia Denison-Pender in 1947 and was married the same year. They had two daughters: Jane and Louise, and one son Charles. Roger died in 1991.

CHARLIE MORTIMER was educated at Wellesley House and, reluctantly, Eton. He was, among many other things, in the Coldstream Guards and for over two decades 'consigliere' to flamboyant antiques dealer the late John Hobbs. Currently he works as a director of Jamb Ltd and together with his partner Tim collects contemporary art which they then loan to institutions all over the world. He edited his late father's letters to him in the Sunday Times bestseller Dear Lupin, which was subsequently adapted into a West End play.

Jane Torday and her father are perfect companions, and this is a life in letters as never before - often hilarious, occasionally objectionable, ever engaging, original and always honest. This book is like an old-fashioned Fleet Street lunch, and you will rise from the table both light-headed and wonderfully indulged Simon Garfield