27 June
Miss Zelda Fisk,
I don't tend to send those letters. I suppose I've gotten very good at not saying things.
I'm not surprised to hear that the book has been rather sensationalized, now that I've had a chance to look through the finished version. The whole thing is little more than lurid trash and I'm sorry if you wasted your time reading it. It seems my publisher had too much experience with penny dreadfuls and tried to follow the formula in this case as well, and while it seems to have been lucrative I cannot claim to be proud of the finished product.
We returned to London today, so no need to send any newspapers. I'll do my best to catch up.
J. Alfred Darrow
Postscript; I wasn't sure whether it wouldn't be better to let the discussion of 'wandpoint marriage' as you called it go without comment, since it's hardly a comfortable subject (particularly given how unacquainted with each other we truly are) and it can no longer be a relevant subject, but on reading over this letter it seems rather curt to just ignore it entirely, so in brief: I agree. I think those that marry in haste (for reasons of sentimentality or out of necessity) are often unhappy. I don't mean to imply anything about you or about myself, I hope you understand, in one direction or the other—only that this would hardly have been the ideal start to a lifelong commitment, had it taken that turn.
I don't tend to send those letters. I suppose I've gotten very good at not saying things.
I'm not surprised to hear that the book has been rather sensationalized, now that I've had a chance to look through the finished version. The whole thing is little more than lurid trash and I'm sorry if you wasted your time reading it. It seems my publisher had too much experience with penny dreadfuls and tried to follow the formula in this case as well, and while it seems to have been lucrative I cannot claim to be proud of the finished product.
We returned to London today, so no need to send any newspapers. I'll do my best to catch up.
Postscript; I wasn't sure whether it wouldn't be better to let the discussion of 'wandpoint marriage' as you called it go without comment, since it's hardly a comfortable subject (particularly given how unacquainted with each other we truly are) and it can no longer be a relevant subject, but on reading over this letter it seems rather curt to just ignore it entirely, so in brief: I agree. I think those that marry in haste (for reasons of sentimentality or out of necessity) are often unhappy. I don't mean to imply anything about you or about myself, I hope you understand, in one direction or the other—only that this would hardly have been the ideal start to a lifelong commitment, had it taken that turn.
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER