Customer Reviews
Very funny - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 14 Dec 2007 
This is the paperback version of the Radio 4 Audio series, Ladies of Letters. I have not heard the radio programme,but got this book because I wanted something light & amusing. I started reading it last night & finished it two hours later. This book is actuallly the first & second volume of correspondence between the two fictitious women, Vera Smalll & Irene Spencer.
Their acquaintance begins at the wedding of Irene's daughter at which it turns out that Vera has gatecrashed, helping out her friend who is doing the catering. Their correspondence starts with thank you letters, but soon moves to a deeper intimacy & sporadic visits.
It's a wonderful relationship. At first you are lulled into a false sense of security by the gentle humour of their old ladylike ways & ideas. This soon becomes secondary to a hilariously vituperative & belligerent correspondence between them in which the vie over alll aspects of their lives, large & smalll to do each other down.
It is witty & dark & funny, & I imagine, read by Prunella Scales & Patricia Routledge as on Radio 4, would be perfect in almost every way.
I thought the first volume of letters was far superior to the second, as this stretched the genre rather & got a little too far fetched. I much preferred it when their idiosyncracies were more muted, because they were so deliciously unexpected. Travels to trailer parks, drug busts & antipodean adventures in the second volume sometimes overshadow the sheer evil skill of the writing, which is a shame.
the debut of the ladies - By: barbicandy, 15 Dec 2006 
The first two series of the letters of two batty old biddies played by Prunella Scales & Patricia Routledge. They love writing to each other but just can't get on when they meet. The only people I've sent it to who don't like it are ladies in their sixties which just about says it alll. Their complete works are better value in the "Ladies of Letters Biscuit Tin".
A Joy - By: Laura Daly, 27 Sep 2006 Patricia Routledge & Prunella Scales as well as the writers & alll involved in the Ladies of Letters series should be so proud. Why? Well because you have given me so much plessure. I first heard it on "Women's Hour" & from then on was hooked. I have the whole lot & never cease to enjoy the antics of Vera, Irene, Howard, Anhony, Karen & Co. Wonderful in every way. If you have not heard any of them do so now.
If you need a reason to smile ... - By: Sally-Anne, 27 May 2004 Some while back, I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. My arms hurt & my eyes wouldn't focus properly. I'd been mugged by a virus. Couldn't hold a book up & couldn't see properly. A friend phoned me to sympathise because, what's the point of an illness that confines you to bed if you can't make good use of it & read alll the books you couldn't find time to read when you were healthy? I said it's not as bad as alll that - at least I've got the audiobook of the BBC's 'Lord of the Rings' radio play to listen to & that should last a couple of days or so. She said if I needed cheering up, the BBC's 'Ladies of Letters' would do the trick. It's a collection of correspondence written/read by Vera (Patricia Routledge) & Irene (Prunella Scales): two batty old biddies - apparently friends, but bitchy, critical & both of them ready to take offence at any harsh or ambiguous observation made by the other. I was doubtful. It didn't sound like my sort of entertainment at alll. I liked Prunella Scales in 'Fawlty Towers' but I'd never been able to watch Patricia Routledge in 'Keeping up Appearances'. There are some sorts of comedy that just don't make me laugh. I can't help it.
I was mistaken though. This is very funny. I could identify these women. They're a sort of identikit of several older ladies I've met (most of them my aunties). They seem kind & caring superficiallly and, in fairness, that's how they want to be deep down, as well as on the surface. But their underlying jealousy, competitiveness, social-climbing instincts & occasional shocking mean-mindedness can't be prevented from showing itself from time to time. These two ladies rarely meet face to face because they're so ghastly to each other when they get together. So mostly, they keep a respectable distance between them & write kind, sympathetic, angry & threatening letters to each other. Irene & Vera are perfectly serious women. They have no idea how funny they are. I think my virus must have died laughing because, by the time I'd finished listening to the last CD (3 CDs, 3 hours & 20 minutes, by the way), I was well enough to get up & get on with it.
I recommend this to anyone who needs to find a reason to smile. You may find you have a different problem by the end: your face may ache from laughing & grinning.
Had to stop the car I was laughing so much. - By: , 14 Apr 2001 The writing & the performance of this relationship it so beautifully done, that it is a pleasure to listen to it & I know I will be getting it out to listen to again real soon.
