‘Thank you so much for coming tonight,’ she said. ‘As many of you know, this play meant so much to me.’
She waited for the applause to climax then die.
‘From the moment I was given the opportunity to play the part of Georgie Hepburn, I knew it was right for me. It was one of those personal epiphanies when time, place and person seemed to fit together perfectly. Some may call it destiny. Others may call it luck. All I can say is that I have been extremely fortunate to have been given this chance. I would like to make special mention of Quentin Holloway who is here tonight.’ She extended her hand in his direction. ‘For allowing me access to Georgie’s papers. For his gracious support.’
More clapping. Again she waited.
‘Quentin, as you have discovered this evening, was Georgie’s grandson, a fact which he himself did not know until a few years ago when he came across Georgie’s letter to Max Rosen among her papers. I am grateful to Quentin for allowing me to expose this secret so publicly in tonight’s play. It adds a whole new dimension to the kind of person Georgie was. Even those we admire so much for their authenticity and integrity can carry with them their own secrets. Whether you feel that Georgie’s secret undermines or enhances her integrity is up to you, the audience.’
She shifted on her perch, took out a sheet of paper from the pocket of her slacks.
‘However, there is one more secret I would like to share with you this evening. While I was going through Georgie’s archives, I came across a bundle of letters. They were all tied up in a pink ribbon, the type you might see binding together a bundle of legal documents. At first, I thought they might be love letters. When I undid the ribbon, I discovered that they were indeed a kind of love letter. They were fan letters, written to Georgie across the decades. To my great surprise, I discovered that one of them was from me.’
She paused as she heard the collective inhale of breath. She waited another couple of beats. This might have been an extremely personal moment for her, but she was still an actress at heart.
‘I must have been about sixteen years old at the time, Georgie would have been in her later years. My mother – who is also here this evening – took me to see a certain exhibition. The letter speaks for itself.’
Dear Miss Hepburn
Last week, I visited your photographic exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to go. My mother dragged me along and I am so glad she did.
I want to be an actress when I grow up and I read in the notes that accompanied the exhibition that you used to be an actress too. I was happy to discover that as it makes me feel we have a common bond. I don’t want to be a photographer though. I have never owned a camera in my life and I have no desire to use one. However, your photographs moved me very much. I have thought about them often in the last few days and wondered why they had such an effect on me.
My mother told me that your photographs reminded her of her own mother – my grandmother – in the period after the war, and how she too felt she had been forgotten. Of course, I don’t have a connection like that. I started off really liking the photographs of the Bedouin camp in the Sinai desert because they seemed so exotic. And then I couldn’t help but be fascinated by all the glossy shots of those famous film stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. However, as I moved into the gallery with all those portraits of the old people in the retirement home I became quite emotional. I think it was because I felt your photographs helped me see right through to the heart of these people. It was as if they were not images flat on the paper but somehow solid – my mother tells me the phrase is ‘three-dimensional’. I realised then that this is the quality I want to be able to strive for when I become an actress. To be able to show the audience not just the outside of the person but the inside as well.
I am not sure I have explained myself very well and I am not sure I understand it myself. I just wanted to tell you that your work – and the story of your life – has really inspired me.
Yours sincerely
Laura Scott (Miss)
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Sian Webber for the gift of the kernel of an idea that eventually grew into this novel. Thanks also to my editor Iain Maloney at Freight for his excellent insights as well as to Sara Sarre at the Blue Pencil Agency for her invaluable feedback.
Finally, I am extremely grateful for the financial support given to me by Creative Scotland without which the writing of this novel would not have been possible.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Acknowledgements
A Woman of Integrity Page 29
