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Half a century later, Shirley wrote of this period: “Misery, foreboding, a life sentence … In this cruel time I wanted to die. Looking back, I wonder that I didn’t. The worst, beyond worst, of all was of course the lack of letters.” Again, there is some extravagance in the recollection. She had in …

Many years later she recalled meeting “at a gathering, a handsome, reserved, and pleasant person, still young, who was introduced as Miss Scott-Moncrieff,” of whom “it was at once explained, in her presence, that she was—the niece, was it, or a cousin?—of the great translator” of Proust, adding, “S…

It was not all misery. In later years she recalled “Alec and I on foot over the hills from Aberdeen to Hong Kong, a lovely deserted path and prospect, a bird alighted on the path, and we were still. He said, low-voiced, ‘I think it’s a plover.’ Such pleasures were new to me. Respect and curiosity f…

Shirley and Vedeniapine had first met in early September 1947, on a day marked by “clarity of sky and air,” and soon were attached, if not publicly a couple. On New Year’s Day 1948 Shirley recorded in her diary, “Half day at work. Alec took me for a walk before lunch … we climbed a hillside into a …

More interesting to Shirley were the young RAF officers who were also part of the unit, skilled linguists with expertise in Chinese languages, who worked alongside local Chinese teachers, translators, and administrators. She was struck by the knowledgeability and social ease of these officers, “peo…