Early in 1935, at the ages of 62 and 63 respectively, Sybil and
Jack Nowell set off from their San Franciscan home on a
carefully-planned trip-of-a-lifetime: to the Pacific islands, New
Zealand, Australia, Africa and, by way of France, England. During
the whole of their trip Sybil kept up a flow of letters to her
family, describing their 'adventures'. These were private letters,
not then intended for publication; there was no attempt to make
them either literary or in the widest sense informative about the
countries they visited. There are few expressions of opinion - even
fewer comments on the insecure state of the world or politics of
the countries they passed through. In fact Robert White - their
editor and grandson - though generally affectionate and admiring of
their intrepidity - finally becomes exasperated by their lack of
awareness of either historical or imminent trouble. As they
travelled up through Africa he fulminates: 'Nowhere do I find my
good grandmother's reticence about politics more trying than here.
What did they talk aobut at dinner, and over their sun-downers?'
What, indeed! But this was, after all, just a holiday trip; these
letters were for private family reading and we should read them in
the spirit in which they were written - to share with the Nowell's
children and grandchildren the new sights, sounds, scents and
encounters in foreign places which the Nowells themselves must
never have forgotten. They were, admittedly, cocooned in expensive
luxury: five-star hotel suites, first-class railway compartments,
chauffeur-driven cars. That was what they wanted, what they paid
for. They did not set out to right wrongs - or issue dire warnings.
And though one might feel some surprise and disapproval at the lack
of national and international awareness, seeing it all through
their eyes after 65 years is in its way enlightening, and often
entertaining. (Kirkus UK)
When Sybil Hall Nowell set off from San Francisco one February
morning in 1935 on a round-the-world trip with her husband Jack,
the energetic American couple fell into the embrace of the British
Empire with great gusto. As they traveled through Australia and New
Zealand and then through Africa up to Britain they delighted in the
formality, civility, and good manners that defined at least the
surface of the British imperial experience. During their four-month
voyage, Sybil Nowell studiously wrote letters home at every stop,
describing this calm and orderly world. Sybil Nowell's letters,
introduced and edited here by Robert N. White (her grandson) who
has provided useful historical and political commentary, portray
the easy complacency of Empire that came with power, privilege, and
prestige.
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