Frances Partridge
In a year somewhat barren of imaginative works, I choose one which illuminates both the painter's vision and the writer's mind: Unknown Colour: Paintings, Letters, Writ- ings by Winifred Nicholson (Faber, £20). It brims with this gifted painter's response to light, colour and flowers, which combines with discussion of the theory and practice of painting and her transmitted delight in nature to build up an enchanting auto- biography. Next, the Letters of Conrad Russell, 1897-1947 (John Murray, £16.95), excellently edited by his niece Georgiana Blakiston, is a book that left me feeling I had made a new friend — an amusing, thoughtful, modest man, who was always himself and some of whose words of wisdom are penetrating enough to dent the reader's mind. A permanent delight for gardeners who enjoy the more useful side of their obsession is Cottesbrooke: An English Kitchen Garden by Susan Camp- bell (Century, £15.95), who had the bril- liant idea of diarising her year-round visits to this famous garden. It is exceptionally well-produced, with accomplished draw- ings by the author and a lavish supply of coloured photographs.
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