Ladies of Letters.com: Series 4 (BBC Radio Collection)

Ladies of Letters.com is an entertaining romp through the lives of two loveable over-competitive grandmothers. Vera and Irene squabble, snipe, and bicker their way through holidays, care of their grandchildren, their daughter's pregnancies, births, and marital troubles, as well as a potential stalker, and the delights - or otherwise - of their cooking skills and recipe book plans, all the while trying to impress on the other how much better their life is than the other's. Varying from one-upmanship over the devoted love offered by their daughters, to making suffering at the hands of the overly-keen but none too fussy paramour, Edward Blunt, into an Olympic sport, life with the ladies of letters is an ongoing competition.

This is the book of the third radio series of Ladies of Letters. I doubt that reading them out of order will matter, as this forms a brief snapshot into the lives of these two formidable ladies. It also doesn't appear to matter if you missed the radio series, as the book stands alone perfectly well. Having said that, the note that the radio voices were Prunella 'Fawlty Towers' Scales and Patricia 'Keeping Up Appearances' Routledge certainly didn't hinder the amusement.

The book starts with a foreword from Sue Townsend, creator of 'Adrian Mole,' supposedly written from her prison cell. (It does become clear, honestly!) This tells you almost nothing about the rest of the book, but is very amusing in it's own right.

This is followed by Vera's opening letter to Irene - by normal mail at this stage - to "offer you the chance to make amends" for past insults and arguments, centring around the wedding of Vera's daughter. She paints a wonderful picture of the event.

Irene responds by denying having done anything wrong, and merrily blaming Vera for, and giving us a very different view of the same set of events. Both pack their letters with slander, bluff, and not-so-subtle barbs - as perfectly targeted as only old friends (or adversaries) can manage, taking it in turns to carefully ladle salt into each other's well-known wounds.

The battle continues, moving onto e-mail. Letters to others in each family, and between other family members shed light on how utterly wrong both are about how they - and the other - are perceived within their both families, and equally misled regarding how much anyone enjoys their cooking, a mutual favourite obsession.

Surprisingly, given the constant digs over everything, this pair do care about each other, albeit neither would ever admit it. Unless, of course, doing so provided a chance to compare their loving kindness with the other's ungrateful response.

A final word of warning - for those of you who laugh out loud when you read - this is a deeply embarrassing book to be reading on the train.


Matriarchal Bitchiness at its most hilarious - Meeeoww!   May 28, 2001
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Ladies of Letters.com is fantastic. The two central characters are what makes the book. Both Vera Small & Irene Spencer have that added extra dimension when you have the 2 Actors that play the characters in the BBC Radio 4 series in your head. Prunella Scales & Patricia Routledge need to be in your minds eye as you are made party to the correspondance between the two Ladies of Letters & the supporting cast of friends and family that surround them. You will wonder how the two remain the best of friends as they travel around the world, discover the internet, and Cable television! I think you will, as I definately did, simply be awashed with pleasurable wickedness as you listen to Irene & Vera engage in professional one upmanship, oblivious to what the world really makes of them. Hey , but its all good clean fun and at the end of the day you will learn to love them dearly. Ladies of Letters is a darn good read!


Excellent, new adventures of the loveable (and wacky) Ladies   April 25, 2001
londontrading@zoo.co.uk (London)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Really brings to life these two excellent characters as their adventures launch them into the world of cyberspace. Once again Wakefield and Hayman have produced entertaining and enjoyable tales of misadventure. If you like/love the Ladies this is a must. If you haven't yet discovered them - you don't know what you are missing!