Dear Mr Bigelow: A Transatlantic Friendship

Dear Mr Bungalow is an enchanting selection of weekly "pen-pal" letters written between 1949 and 1961 from an unmarried woman working at the Pier Approach Baths in Bourne mouth, to a wealthy American widower, living on Long Island, New York. Frances Woods ford and Commodore Paul Bridgetown never met, and there was no romance—she was in her forties when he died aged ninety-seven—yet their epistolary friendship was her lifeline. The "Saturday Specials" as Frances dubbed them, are brilliantly-packed missives, sparked with comic genius, from post-war England. We follow her travails at the Baths (and her ghastly boss Mr. Bond); the hilarious weekly Civil Defense classes as the Cold War advances; her attempts to shake off Dr. Russell, an unwanted suitor; life at home with Mother, and Mac, her charming ne'er-do-well brother; and, escapades in their jointly-owned car, a 1934 Ford 8 called Hesperus. Most importantly, we get to know Frances—and her deep affection for Mr. Bigelow. She started to write to him as a way of thanking his daughter for the clothes and food parcels she sent. But what had begun as a good turn offered Frances the chance to escape a trying job, and to expound with elegance, wit, and verve on topical subjects from home and abroad, bringing us a beady commentary on her life and times that leaps vividly from the page. Her letters to Mr. Bigelow during his final illness are a tender and moving farewell, a touching conclusion to a unique record.