Darlinghissima: Letters to a Friend

I was curious. I had already read William Murray's book, "Janet, My MOther, and Me." I was still curious and had many questions. This book does not answer all of them. But I have concluded that Natalia and Janet's relationship were like two kindred spirits coming together despite their sexuality. They don't dwell on their sexual orientation like they do today. Janet was very comfortable around anybody. She was easily surrounded by men like Hemingway just as she was around women like Mary McCarthy. I learned a lot reading this book of letters. They were affectionate partners usually separated from continents and yearned to be together. I didn't think it was appropriate for Natalia to have been seeing an Austrian doctor as a companion when her heart was with Janet even though she was in Europe. Janet Flanner was a fascinating person of the last century. She spent 50 years in Paris writing for the New Yorker with it's article, Letter from Paris. Janet was never superficial, pretentious, or phony. She lacked it completely. She was intelligent, kind to her friends like Alice Toklas and others, but she loved Natalia. The two women were always together whether apart or in New York on Fire Island. After Natalia's death, their cremated remains were scattered at sea on Cherry Grove in Fire Island. Despite their sexual orientation, I felt just as comfortable reading about them as if they were a heterosexual couple. Their relationship was not totally based on sex but on communication, trust, love, honesty, integrity, and companionship. They were made for each other. Janet was a deeply loving person who never abandoned friends like Gertrude Stein's widow, Alice Toklas, who lived in a convent and in poverty and was deprived by Stein's fortune. I would have given the book five stars but i felt it was weak in some parts.