Henry Green | Back | 1946

Dear Charley,

Your situation is so sad. You went to war, lost your leg, and returned only to find that you had lost your girl. Life was bleak. Then your father-in-law, or the man who would have been your father-in-law if Rose had lived, sent you to meet a young widow he knew. Her name was Nancy and she was just like Rose. It drove you a little crazy. It turned out that she was kind of Rose, in a way. I don't want to ruin the surprise for you. I don't know where you are in this experience. I know this isn't much more than recapping what happened to you in your life, but I want to tell you that you are very real to me, even though you lived in a place where there was so much death and I don't know anyone who has died, really, except a girl in my high school who was in a car wreck.

Sincerely,
Louis