My Darling Diary - Volume One

The enigmatic Summer Beethoven affects all those who come into contact with her; each character of the story becoming influenced by their own individual image of this unique and  tantalising female. 

Based on a real person, long dead, the rich and wonderful, if slightly obsolete, vocabulary of the English language used within this novel is intended to reflect the singular heroine of the story; for the language should not die, and nor should the memory of such an extraordinary character.

ISBN: 9781852001698 

Size: 212x135mm 

Binding: Paperback 

Length: 203pp

In her third diary we follow Ingrid Jacoby's life through the first half of the 1950s from the age of 23 to 26 years. 

Still in Oxford and now working for Rosenthals' Antiquarian Booksellers, she records relationships between all her work colleagues whilst finding a particularly deep attachment to Erica Spender, a worldly woman who sees in Ingrid something of her own spirit.

The intimacies and eccentricities of a number of boyfriends are brought to life throughout the entries and the names of Markus, WB, Alan, Jonathan, Antony, Peter and Michael weave in and out, coming and going, as either good or bad sexual encounters ensue or promises of more stable relationships occur.

At times Ingrid is sent into depression, will nothing work for her? She remembers, at the age of 12, being transported via Kindertransport from Vienna to Falmouth with her sister Lieselotte, discovering that her mother was lost forever after dying in a German concentration camp and subsequently being unable to properly find a close relationship with her father and his new wife. Holidays back to Austria and Falmouth help to build awareness and understanding, although still leave a sense of estrangement.

Finally though, there is a relationship that brings stability and reason to Ingrid. She meets and falls deeply in love with Stan, and as the pages of this third diary come to a close we know that her heart and life have become secure.

ISBN: 9781852001360 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 372pp 

Illus: 26 b/w within text

My Darling Diary : Volume Two - The Girl in and Out of Love - Oxford 1944-1950

Following Ingrid Jacoby’s first published diary, which dealt with her wartime arrival in Britain under the Kindertransport movement at the age of 12 and subsequent life through to 1944, Ingrid Jacoby’s second My Darling Diary records her life from late in 1944 through to 1950. 

During these years Ingrid lives in Oxford, where she works at the Central Library for a while and then at Parker ’s Bookshop. Throughout her encounters with those in charge and with various colleagues and friends, her diary reflects the deep thoughts and feelings of a girl ’s coming of age in Britain during the 1940s. 

It is the honesty and frankness of Ingrid’s diary that entices the reader to read on; whether it is her unprovoked lecherous encounter with the famed singer Richard Tauber or her own feelings of love for various men who wend in and out of her life, we know that the sentiments are real, being told directly to us as the diary takes on a persona of its own.

There are times of loneliness, times of desire, sexual experiences with ‘WB’ her married boss at the bookshop and with boyfriends, all interwoven with feelings of inadequacy, doubt, and the myriad of emotions attached to any young woman from any age. However, this is Ingrid ’s story, and in so being is also completely original, enticing and compelling to read. 

ISBN: 9781852001230 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 412pp

My Darling Diary : A Wartime Journal - Vienna 1937-39, Falmouth 1939-44

Ingrid Jacoby was amongst 10,000 Jewish children brought to Britain just before the Second World War under the organised movement called 'Kindertransport' (children's transport). At the age of 12 she left Nazi-occupied Vienna with her sister Lieselotte, leaving behind her parents and friends, to arrive in Falmouth, Cornwall. 

In Vienna Ingrid had already started keeping a diary and she continued to do so on her arrival in England. This diary became her closest friend and confidant, set against the background of coping with a new language and strange people and surroundings.

She expresses her state of loneliness and her longing for her mother, whilst also recording events surrounding her life in Falmouth and the ongoing war in general. We are enticed to read on with each entry because of the honesty and forthrightness which only a diary can capture.

Ingrid's decision to let the Diary be published came after extracts had been read on BBC Radio 4 and she realised she wished to show her gratitude to those who were prepared to take in refugees during a time of rationing and austerity.

ISBN: 9781852000806 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 274pp 

Photos and illustrations