I am currently compiling a book or two – or three – of the diaries I possess from Strandhill Manor’s great library.  I will be occasionally sharing excerpts and snippets.  Here is one:

January 1, 1921

Our guests departed this morning after breakfasting with us.

Lord Percival needed to return home post haste, as he was expecting his sister to arrive later in the day.

Harry and Clara Bunclody were meeting with a gentleman regarding the purchase of another – yes, another! – Arabian for their stables. 

I overheard Sir Reginald requesting Cora to see him personally and most intimately this coming weekend.  I daresay that those two are headed for the altar!

I was all I could do to see Pauline – Mrs. Richard Duncormick – to her motor car.  Although she is a delight to have and one of my closest friends, she always seems to have “one more thing” to relate, which puts off her departure.  I daresay she is one that cannot bear to leave, especially since her husband is on safari somewhere on the Dark Continent.

Finally, when all the guests departed, my husband and I breathed a sign of relief.  We were most anxious to relax, and although we are always delighted to host parties at Strandhill Manor, it is equally as good to have quiet days to ourselves.

Sitting on the silver tray on the hall table was a letter.  “Oh, dear!” I exclaimed when I saw the return address on the back of the envelope.

His Lordship and I were the hesitant recipients of a letter from Lawrence of Wilshire.  We are not, admittedly, always eager to learn of his troubles, for much of the time he writes to prop himself up, as it were.  Nonetheless, I took the letter from the hall table and handed it to my husband, who straightaway headed to the library.

“Please bring me an Irish whiskey,” my husband requested of me.  And soon his wish was my pleasure to fulfill.

I sat with his Lordship near a window as he opened the letter, and out popped confetti. . . .

Was there more to this?

~excerpt from “Strandhill Manor Diaries: 1922” due out in late 2022