"Letters of James Agee to Father Flye" (1962). The poet, novelist and film critic James Agee was fatherless from a young age and filled the gap with a kindly Catholic priest, to whom Agee wrote frequently and candidly.
"The Letters of Virginia Woolf" (1975-1980). Six volumes, edited by Nigel Nicolson and Joanne Trautmann. The high priestess of modernism was a sly and witty correspondent who loved gossip.
"Letters of Flannery O'Connor" (1979), edited by Sally Fitzgerald. Even people who can't make heads nor peacock's tails out of O'Connor's fiction are nuts about her letters, in which she is warm and funny and philosophical, with no trace of self-pity.
"Selections from George Eliot's Letters" (1985), edited by Gordon S. Haight. If you can get past Haight's cruelly condescending introduction ("Everyone must be fascinated by the extraordinary love affairs of this far from beautiful woman…"), you'll find Eliot's letters brilliant and entertaining — if a bit stilted, owing to the stuffy fashion of the age in which they were penned.
firstname.lastname@example.orgCopyright © 2015, The Morning Call