Dan Ranfurly, with his faithful valet Whitaker, were sent to North Africa. When her husband was taken prisoner, his wife bluffed her way to the Middle East and stayed there, against all the rules, until her husband escaped. Meanwhile she gained a foothold in officialdom and rose from one confidential position to the next, with her only ally the indomitable Whitaker. Countess Ranfurly's diaries of this time give a witty, charming and compulsive insight into the problems of a young woman at war.

    At the end of the month, she began to write the diary which she was to keep until her death in 1978. Written for her own eye, rich in description and observation, her diary contains the details of her life, from the antics of her cats and plans for her garden, to her thoughts on friendship, writing and death. From the anecdotal early years to her love for her lifelong companion Valentine Ackland, through World War II and her traumatic near breakdown in 1949, to the final strange double life of her bereavement, the diary paints a striking picture of the writer's life, of the workings of her mind and the making of her art.

    Your own personal trainer in a paperback, it will help you to set concrete goals, devise strategies to reach them, and monitor your progress. Ever-popular, motivational, and endlessly useful, the third edition now includes yoga, Pilates, and mind-body exercise plus increased space to record six months' worth of training routines and goals.