Written in Cambridge, Paris and Turin. While in Cambridge, frequent reference is made to the usual round of work, friends, theatre, cinema, music, dances etc. Acquaintances and visitors include Ian Parsons, Timothy White, Tom Quibell, Gerald Wormal, Tom Henn, Peggy Willson, Mervyn Roberts, Helen Megaw, Ruth Warren, Juan Mascaro, John Davey, Douglas Davidson, the Pettoello family and Ronald Heathcote. P. 48: Alethea comments that 'Dr [F R] Leavis, parading his bleeding heart and sorrowing soul, dished up T S Eliot & Virginia Woolf & I A Richards - - - rather boring'. On pp. 57-60 she mentions running into a procession and demonstration by the 'Cambridge Purity Campaign'. Pages 77-93 were written in Paris - Alethea travelled there with Olga Libowitz, Ruth Warren and Irene Sutcliffe in March 1927 and stayed with the Erlande family for a time, going on to Turin in April where she stayed with the Vezzetti family (pages 94-164). Pages 183-204 relate almost exclusively to the death of Olga Libowitz [Girton 1926, died on 11 June 1927 after a motor accident], and to Alethea's grief and her thoughts on Olga's life and her friendship with her.
Loose items: Girton College extract from the statutes giving rules and regulations for students, circa 1926; Girton College Musical Society concert programme 12 March 1927; programme for 'The Shirley Plays', 11 March 1927; piece of work written by Olga Libowitz 24 January 1927 [NB: the Girton Register spells her name Libowitz; the name at the head of this piece of work reads Libovitz]; and letter to 'Mrs Graham' from T[imothy] H White, 15 April 1927, apologising for not turning up for tea as invited on account of having been diagnosed with consumption the day before.
Pasted in at end of volume: 2 news cuttings concerning the motor accident at Welwyn which caused the death of Olga Libowitz and serious injuries to Grace Cohen on 11 June 1927 [Olga's 19th birthday].
Also at back: 10 photographs of Girton, inside and out, including the pond and Alethea in Miss Butler's garden, 1927, Alethea's passport photograph March 1927, and photographs of G Vezzetti and Bice Vezzetti, 1926; 12 postcards from trips to Italy and France; 4-leaf clover found at Girton 1927; and violets from Castiglione picked by G Bice and given to Alethea 1927.