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This sub-series contains letters from Kate O'Brien to her sister Anne O'Mara and to her nephew Peter O'Mara written in 1951. Also included in this sub-series is a letter to Kate O'Brien from an unidentified correspondent.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, county Galway to Anne O’Mara. Kate is concerned about the reasons for Anne and Stephen’s sudden trip to Dublin and seeks reassurance that they are both well. She is looking forward to seeing Anne in Roundstone in early February. The letter deals mainly with domestic and family news, Kate’s lumbago and her attempts at gardening. She laughs at her sudden discursiveness and confesses that it is her way of postponing a return to the novel [The Flower of May].

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, [county Galway] to Anne O’Mara. Kate repeats her request for Anne to join her at Roundstone to attend a viewing of the auction at Castle Taylor, Ardrahan. She asks news of Aunt Fan’s jubilee day. She tries to imagine being sixty years a nun, or sixty years anything consistently.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, [county Galway] to Anne O’Mara. Kate is looking forward to having Peter in Roundstone. She is tired and has come to the conclusion that summer is a bad season for a recluse novelist, for she is inundated with callers. She mentions the English playwright Wynyard Browne and also Patricia Lavelle, who is staying in the village of Roundstone with her family.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, county Galway to Anne O’Mara. Kate wishes Anne a happy birthday and is looking forward to seeing Peter at Roundstone in the near future. The letter is mainly concerned with domestic and family news, May’s forthcoming visit and Mary O’Neill, whom Kate is expecting the following week. She makes a brief reference to Nano Reid, Gerard Dillon and Pat Lavelle, all of whom have paid her visits.

Typed letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, [Roundstone, county Galway] to Anne O’Mara. Kate gives an account of the preparations for the arrival of her live-in housekeeper, Mrs O’Kelly, and of her gardening activities. She refers to Teresa of Avila, which is about to be published. She has typed out a list for the publishers of complimentary copies to be sent out, but regrets that Anne won’t receive hers on the day of publication. She asks for permission to come and spend her birthday at Strand House, and concludes with a lively account of the death and funeral of one of the village’s most outstanding characters, the butcher John de Courcey.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, [county Galway] to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne, Stephen and Peter for a lovely Christmas. She mentions Lorna [Reynolds], who is staying with Kate with her dog Otto. Barbara Kane, the local shoemaker’s wife, is temporarily keeping house for Kate, who hopes that the arrangement can be made permanent.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, [county Galway] to Peter O’Mara. Kate thanks Peter for sending her Rowe’s Trees and Shrubs. She gives an account of her time in Birr and the funeral of Eleanor Reynolds [sister of Lorna Reynolds, who had died on 3 February], which took place there. She asks for news of Anne, who is in Italy.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, The Fort, Roundstone, [county Galway] to Peter O’Mara. Kate thanks Peter for his present of a gardening book. She is plagued by tourists, including an English lady who ‘collects celebrities’. Kate wonders if she should feel honoured.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, 37 Gordon Square, [London] WC1, to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne and Stephen for their birthday wishes and cheque. She is in London on business, which she is thankful to say continues very brisk.