Notable Woman

In April 1925, Jean Lucey Pratt began writing a journal. She continued to write until just a few days before her death in 1986, producing well over a million words in 45 exercise books over the course of her lifetime. For sixty years, no one had an inkling of her diaries’ existence, and they have remained unpublished until now. Jean wrote about anything that amused, inspired or troubled her, laying bare every aspect of her life with aching honesty, infectious humour, indelicate gossip and heartrending hopefulness. She documented the loss of a tennis match, her unpredictable driving, catty friends, devoted cats and difficult guests. As Jean’s words propel us back in time, ‘A Notable Woman’ becomes a unique slice of living, breathing British history and a revealing private chronicle of life in the 20th century.