Darling Monster: The Letters of Lady Diana Cooper to Son John Julius Norwich, 1939-1952

By Diana Cooper

Lady Diana Cooper was an aristocrat, a socialite, an actress of stage and early screen. When she married rising political star Duff Cooper, they became the golden couple who knew everyone who was anyone; they sat at the very heart of British public life.

Diana’s letters to her only son, John Julius Norwich, cover the period 1939 to 1952. They take us from the rumblings of war, through the Blitz, which the Coopers spent holed up in the Dorchester (because it was newer, and therefore less vulnerable, than the Ritz), to rural Sussex where we see Diana blissfully setting up a smallholding as part of the war effort. After a spell with the Free French in Algiers, Duff was appointed British Ambassador to France and the couple settled into the glorious embassy in post-Liberation Paris.

Over and beyond all the glitz, Diana emerges in these letters as highly intelligent, funny, fiercely loyal: a woman who disliked extravagance, who was often cripplingly shy, who was happiest in the countryside with her cow and goats and whose greatest love and preoccupation were her husband and son.

As a portrait of a time and some of history’s most dramatic and important events, these letters are invaluable. But they also give us a vivid and touching portrait of the love between a mother and son, separated by war, oceans—and the constraints of the time they lived in.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Aug 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781468311136

Diana Cooper

Diana Cooper is a therapist, healer, author of several books, and the founder of the Diana Cooper Foundation. Her journey started during a time of personal crisis when she received an angel visitation that changed her life. Since then the angels and her guides have taught her about the angelic realms, unicorns, fairies, Atlantis, and Orbs as well as many other spiritual subjects. Through her workshops and therapy practice she has helped countless people find their life mission, fulfill their potential, and empower their lives. Diana’s aim and vision is to light the way to enable children, adults, and the planet to ascend graciously and happily.

Reviews for Darling Monster

[yooperprof · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I am probably way out of line, and perhaps I am betraying my lack of sound historical understanding, but maybe it's not such a great idea to have a son edit his mother's letters that she wrote to him when he was an adolescent. Maybe I'm being churlish, but I can't help but think that someone outside the family romance would have made better choices of what to leave out - and probably there would be fewer repetitive letters (that go on for page after page) of Lady Diana complaining about her servants, or making allusions to society gossip that probably interested only 50 or 60 people at the time.There are some witty bits, particularly about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Also, Lady Diana's letters about living in London during the Blitz are a tremendously valuable resource of history. But - IMHO - not really enough of the "good stuff" to justify 465 pages of text.