The Man in the Balloon

Abstract

This article puts into the public domain for the first time a correspondence between Valentine Ackland and Elizabeth Wade White written in January 1951. The affair between the two women which had begun in 1938 ended in 1950, although they continued to correspond and occasionally meet until Ackland’s death in 1969. The letters were written when both women were struggling to come to terms with the end of their physical and romantic attachment and were deeply unhappy. In the letters each correspondent analyses the history of the relationship and the causes of the fracture between them. The letters and their attachments are remarkable representations of love and guilt, heartache and compassion. Their publication adds to our knowledge of an affair which had repercussions for the lives not only of Ackland and Wade White but also for those of their life partners: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Evelyn Holahan.