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This sub-series contains letters primarily from Kate O'Brien to Anne and Stephen O'Mara, her nephew Peter O'Mara and her sister Mary (May) O'Brien written between 1932 and 1936.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, 5 Rossetti Gardens Mansions, Flood Street, [London] SW3 to Anne O’Mara. She notes that her sister May is still gaining great fun and gossip over Kate’s book [Without My Cloak], and she hopes to be able to provide her with similar entertainment for many years to come. She confesses that their Aunt Min was one of the many models of the novel’s character, Cousin Rosie, and that Rosie’s fancy for Eddy first stirred in Kate’s mind when she saw Aunt Min glinting at Phons [O’Mara] at a party at Strand House. She mentions that Charles Seddon Evans, the managing director of Heinemann’s, is making a great fuss of her, and she is amused by all the sudden attentions now that she is a success.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, Hotel Colina, Sardinero, Santander, [Spain] to Stephen O’Mara. Kate thanks Stephen for his review [of The Ante-Room], which she deems the best she has had so far.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh to Anne and Stephen O’Mara. Kate thanks the couple for their good wishes and apologises for her hurried note. The play [The Ante-Room] is enjoying great success, although some of the press notices are unflattering. Kate seems to be the only person worried by this. The audiences are crowding in and the applause is tremendous. She is making small alterations in the lines of Vincent, whose part seems to baffle the critics. They are all feeling excited and triumphant.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, University Women’s Club, 2 Audley Square, South Audley Street, [London] W1 [to May O’Brien?]. Kate has arrived in London, having finished the novel the day before. She is feeling half-dead and suffering from acute writer’s cramp. Note that this letter is dated 'Wednesday 30 September', which places it in 1931 [Without My Cloak] or 1936 [Mary Lavelle].

Letter from Stephen O’Mara [but in Anne O’Mara’s hand] to Kate O’Brien, offering a critique of Mary Lavelle. He considers its four main characters to be untrue. He dislikes Kate’s treatment of Pablo and Mary Lavelle and feels that she has done these charming and noble characters an injustice. He also affords Kate generous praise, saying that beyond the Bible he knows of no other book in which every word is so perfectly placed and where the power of description is exercised with so much economy. He admires Kate’s style and her power of characterization which is present in all her works, but particularly so in Mary Lavelle. Also a typed copy of the same letter.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, Crown Hotel, Croombridge, Kent to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne for the information regarding the burning of Cork. She is looking forward to Stephen Rynne’s book [Green Fields], which Anne has promised to send her as soon as it is published. She apologises for being so lazy about letters, but between writing the novel [Pray for the Wanderer], the Spectator work and her daily constitutional, the days simply fly. She is hoping to finish her writing by the first week of December and then return to London. She is hoping to visit Ireland in January as she wants to see Strand House before the Town Hall throws a shadow on it. She asks after Peter, who is at Glenstal.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, Croombridge, [Kent] to Anne O’Mara. Kate thanks Anne, Stephen and Peter for their birthday wishes and in reply to Anne’s query suggests that respectable stockings would make an ideal present for when she returns to civilization. She is working through her novel [Pray for the Wanderer] and hopes to return to town with the text completed on or before 15 January.

This sub-series contains letters from Kate O'Brien to her sisters Anne O'Mara and Mary (May) O'Brien, to Stephen O'Mara and to her nephew Peter O'Mara written between 1938 and 1939.

Letter from Kate O’Brien, Great James Street, [London] [to May O’Brien]. She has been kept busy by journalism work and hack literary jobs as her finances are low. She is thinking of giving up her London flat and moving to a cottage within a commuting distance of London. She has an article in tonight’s issue of Star on the French films currently playing in London (see P12/2/1/2/5/1). She has received an enquiry from the Dublin Gate Theatre about her plays, and is sending The Ante-Room and The Schoolroom Window for their consideration. She was invited to the Dorothy Macardle banquet at the Gresham Hotel by the Dublin Women Writers’ Club and would have liked to be there. She is trying to write a play at present, but journalism and other matters keep interfering with the work.