Dear Ines ... Dear Janet

"Dear Ines, Dear Janet" is a unique correspondence between two women-one British and one American-from totally different backgrounds who became friends and wrote to each other over a period of 50 years.

Janet Bookman was born to an immigrant Jewish family from Eastern Europe. Her father spoke mainly Yiddish, and her mother had little formal education. Janet grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City, found her way to Washington, married a news man and raised two children.

Her friend, Ines Burrows, came from the British upper class, descended from founders of "The Times of London," and married a career diplomat who became Ambassador to Turkey and NATO, and represented Britain in the Persian Gulf. He was knighted for his work by the Queen.

The two women met in Washington soon after World War II, became close friends, and wrote to each other over half a century until Ines died in 1997. Naturally they wrote about family problems (each raised teenagers in the Sixties), but also about what was going on in the world-Vietnam, U.S. and British elections, the glamorous life led by Ines and events in Janet's more tranquil existence.

These letters give unusual insight into the lives of two very interesting and articulate women-and into the qualities that can make for friendship-over the years and over thousands of Trans-Atlantic miles.