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Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, Harcourt Cottage, North Leigh, Witney, Oxfordshire to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne for her praises of the new book [The Land of Spices]. Having heard nothing from Ireland, she was afraid that nobody liked the book at all and that it had been banned. She talks about the origins of some of the characters, but adds that none of the nuns in the book was taken completely from any particular nun of her past as she never likes to take full characters from real life. She discusses the feedback the book has received and admits that some things in it she enjoyed writing about more than anything ever, as they came so easily out of the past.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, End Farm, North Leigh, Witney, Oxon to Anne O’Mara. Kate has just returned to End Farm after a short trip to London and apologises for her lack of communication owing to the telephone wires in the village being down. She tells Anne that since Stephen’s telegram she and her bank manager have established a cautious truce. She is sorry for having troubled Stephen with her financial matters, but she was in urgent need of guidance and advice.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, Harcourt Cottage [to Anne O’Mara]. Kate thanks Anne for biscuits and bacon. She is glad to report that her book [The Land of Spices] seems to have been a real success, although she does not yet know what that means in sales. With everyone needing to economise, Kate doesn’t believe that vast sales are possible anyway. She has had a preliminary inquiry from New York about film rights. She has given Anne’s message to Heinemann that Limerick city was hungry for more copies of the book.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, 88 Park Mansions, Knightsbridge, [London] SW1 to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne, Stephen and Peter for their birthday present. She outlines her movements and plans for Christmas. She comments on the weather, which has turned cold and caused her to do some ‘involuntary skating’ along Knightsbridge.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, Harcourt Cottage to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne and Stephen for their birthday remembrances. She is planning to spend her Christmas at Illington. She mentions a broadcast record she has made. Her typewriter breaks down mid-sentence and the end of the letter has been written by hand.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, Harcourt Cottage, North Leigh, Witney, Oxon to Anne O’Mara. Kate is indignant about the Censor having returned her thank you letter and that Anne’s parcel never reached Kate. She expects to have some work to do in late March, which will take her to Ireland. She has received an invitation to stay in Cornwall, where her friend E. M. Delafield is recuperating from her operation and intends to accept it.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, Croyle, Cullompton, Devon to Anne O’Mara. Kate and Elizabeth [Dashwood] are awaiting the arrival of the Irish maid, Florence McGowan, as Elizabeth’s cook has left them owing to ill health and they have no other help. Kate’s new book [The Last of Summer] is just out. Heinemanns are pleased with the advance sales and expect it to do very well. The Book Society and the Observer have already given it good reviews.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, Croyle, Cullompton, Devon to Anne O’Mara. Kate and Elizabeth are still anxiously awaiting the Irish maid, although the old cook has had a change of heart and returned to her job. Kate’s book [The Last of Summer] is selling exceptionally well, and the reviews have been very favourable.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, 10 Buckingham Street, Strand, London WC2 to Anne O’Mara. Kate discusses The Last of Summer, which has suffered from a series of commotions and sackings, but seems at last to be set to open in Liverpool on 24 April. She talks at some length about the difficulties of dramatizing the novel into a play as in Kate’s opinion everything that gives the book value or distinction belongs purely to the novel form. To reduce it to dialogue and action only hardens it into something vulgar and ordinary. She and John Perry have written about six different versions, and she doesn’t like any of them. She regrets having allowed the novel to be dramatized at all. Kate’s agents have compelled her to do some talks on books for the BBC, which she is dreading as she is no good at ‘speechifying.’

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, 10 Buckingham Street, Strand, London WC2 to Anne O’Mara. Kate is looking forward to 7 June [the London premiere of The Last of Summer?], but with some anxiety. The play is currently in Southsea, where Kate is about to go as she wants to evaluate the various changes she has made and take notes for the London rehearsals.