It’s been wonderful spring weather here in the UK. And the same old dilemma: whether to take pleasure in daffodils and blossom and sunshine as well as feeling grim and upset because of the news. Or not. We have been reading the newly-published Ausländer by Michael Moritz, which is about his German ancestors, and at the very end he has a diatribe about Trump that one might once have thought both impolite and libellous. But not these days. How Moritz must be feeling after the events of the last three weeks is unimaginable. It’s a very good book by the way, although so so sad, covering some of the same ground as Crooked Cross. At least none of the thousands of people who have now read Crooked Cross have said they can't believe it. And nor will they, sadly, when they read its sequel, The Prisoner (published in a month). Yet normal life continues: on the one hand we read Michael Moritz and Sally Carson and see what new horrors Trump has inflicted on us and on the other we enjoy the weather and think about what to cook for supper. It's a conundrum that can/will never be solved. Anyway, dear Persephone reader, be assured that ‘politics’ may not be mentioned again in this Letter, but it is always on our mind. Unfortunately.

A brief trip to Amsterdam also focused on this dilemma. It was looking beautiful and the Amsterdam bicyclists (they all have ‘sit up and beg’ bikes rather than anything carefully ‘stylish’) are fun to be among (literally, they are assigned half the pavement). Two interesting facts: they don’t wear crash helmets (because they very rarely have to interact with cars); and many women of a certain age have their dogs sitting in their bike baskets (Gilbert would simply love this). However, having enjoyed the bicyclists and the nice looking women (probably wearing Gudrun Sjödén clothes), a cinnamon bun and the sunshine on the canals, we walked sadly to pay homage to ‘our author’ Etty Hillesum at the house  she lived in at Gabriel Metsustraat 6, across the road from the Concertgebouw. The plaque in her memory is to the right of the front door; there is also a Stolperstein in the pavement.

Sobering in a different way was the excellent Italian film (available from BFI and Amazon Prime) There’s Still Tomorrow: 'in post-war Rome, a working-class wife finds the courage to challenge her violent marriage and fight for a different future', trailer here. Talk about domestic feminism in action! As is the new Barbara Taylor Bradford Channel 4 serial A Woman of Substance which is very enjoyable but any Persephone reader who has read Hop, Step and Jump will feel that BTB must have had it in mind. In fact maybe HS and J started a whole genre – the young girl in service realising that she can and should make her own way in life, as long as she avoids the advances of the son of the house.

In Our Time on Radio 4 is back with a different presenter, Misha Glenny, and there was a rather horrifying hour called The Columbian Exchange  about the catastrophic result of Europeans arriving in the Americas when ‘European viruses helped kill over 90 percent of the population’, while at the same time 'in parts of Europe, Africa and Asia populations boomed on the new American foods'; more cheerfully, do watch Set the Piano Stool on Fire, an excellent documentary by Mark Kidel about the super-brilliant pianist Kit Armstrong and his important relationship with (the late and lamented) Alfred Brendel; we were pleased to be told, in the light of the Amy Levy archive going to the Cambridge University Library, about these Amy Levy songs; and, a plea, please only watch The Plastic Detox (on Netflix)about six couples and the effects of plastic on their fertility if you are not feeling too doomy: there is a little bit of optimism, since some of the couples do manage to conceive after keeping away from plastics for three months, but the overall implications of the documentary are terrifying; there was a heartwarming article in the Guardian about how wonderfully the local community behaved to the people marooned on the Bibby Stockholm; and we love the sound of Daisy Goodwin’s play Victoria: A Queen Unbound at the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire from March 27th. Also: this Ayurvedic tea will ward off any colds or coughs that might be lurking around: simmer black peppercorns, cardamom pods, cloves, grated ginger, cinnamon sticks for five minutes, add almond milk and simmer, add a tea bag and some water and drink it hot.  

An exhibition opens this week at Kensington Palace. It is called 'The Last Princesses of Punjab' and is about the family of Sophia Duleep Singh who was a goddaughter of Queen Victoria and a campaigner for women's rights.

My alma mater St Paul’s Girls’ School sent a newsletter which included detail about the three Binyon sisters (who were at the school), one of whom, Helen, had an affair with Eric Ravilious. 'That Ravilious claimed, over a period of some three years, to love dearly both his wife Tirzah and Helen, was hardly (as Alan Powers observes) "the action of a good husband or father". Because of Helen, though, students of Ravilious have a superlative record of his artistic activities during the 1930s. Tirzah, known for her extraordinary generosity of spirit, became a close friend of Helen after the death of Eric, lost when his aircraft disappeared off the coast of Iceland on 2 September 1942.' This 1944 portrait of 'our author' Tirzah Garwood was by Duffy Ayers. It was reproduced in Country Life last week as our choice of a 'favourite portrait'.

Finally, Honor Jolliffe is exhibiting at 'Earth and Light' in Semley, near Shaftesbury, in April. She has featured on the Persephone Post and we love her work. This is 'Lemons on a Blue Plate'.

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Nicola Beauman

8 Edgar Buildings, Bath