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Lilian Ripley was born in Switzerland in December 1912. Her father, Teddy de Berends, was the son of the Russian ambassador to Sweden, Spain and Brazil. Her mother was also from a diplomatic family - she was the daughter of Sir George Buckley-Mathew, who had many posts in the Colonial service, including being Governor of the Bahamas Islands. It was a multicultural, multilingual family that Lilian grew up in. Her aunt Olga, "la Baronne", was the widow of Baron Alexei von Wolff auf Hinzenberg und Wangasch, and she had had to flee with him from Russia during the 1917 revolution. This memoir, Remembering Axel and Fabian, was written in 1995, shortly before Lilian's death. It tells of her seemingly idyllic upbringing in small-town Switzerland, with doting and faithful servants, a loving family, education at a nearby Convent school and holidays in France. It was a life that apparently lacked nothing, and yet by the age of 11 she had experienced the tragedy of the deaths of three of her close family members. This is her tribute to them. www.orrydian.co.uk

Averin was born in the Toxteth area of Liverpool on 19th March 1921. Her father, Dr Charles J. Macalister, was a wealthy and successful consultant physician and paediatrician. He was 60 years old when she was born. Averin's mother, Leslie, was Dr Macalister's second wife and 33 years his junior. She was a staunch Presbyterian and a pillar of the community - President of the local Women's Institute, founder of the local Infant Welfare Centre, Justice of the Peace, vice-chairman of the local Parish Council, and much more. The family situation was complicated by the fact that Dr Macalister had several children from his first marriage some of whom were older than Leslie, and all of whom were unhappy about his taking a second wife. These memoirs were written in 2004, shortly before Averin's death. They follow her genteel and sheltered upbringing under the stern eye of Nanny in the leafy suburbs of Liverpool to a large thatched house in a Gloucestershire village, then to Cheltenham Ladies College and eventually to Oxford University, where, in 1941, she met MI6 intelligence officer Geoffrey Hinton, her husband-to-be. More about her later life can be gleaned from two volumes of letters: Averin's War: Letters home from Oxford and London 1940-1944 and Averin's Letters from Bangkok (1957-1961). Details of her ancestry can be found in Averin's Family Tree, a genealogical report into her family from the early 17th century until the present day. www.orrydian.co.ukwww.orrydian.com

From 1957 to 1961 Averin and Geoffrey Hinton were attached to the British Embassy in Bangkok. Geoffrey was officially a diplomat with the rank of 1st Secretary, but this was cover for his real role as an intelligence officer working for MI6.Throughout the posting, Averin wrote round-robin letters to the family back in England, and most of these letters have survived. Averin had herself worked for SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service, during the Seoncd World War. Like Geoffrey, she was bound by the Official Secrets Act and so, frustratingly, there is no hint at all in any of the letters as to Geoffrey's real role.The letters give a vivid and candid picture of life in Thailand in the 1950s and early 1960s as seen through the eyes of a middle-class British woman: the politics, the frequent coups d'état, summary executions, cholera epidemics, religion, etiquette, manners, food, dress, education, and much more. And all the while Averin threw herself with gusto into the role of diplomat's wife, running a household with six or seven servants and their families, entertaining dignitaries, mixing with royalty, holidaying by the sea, all amidst an endless whirl of cocktail and dinner parties. www.orrydian.co.ukwww.orrydian.com

A vivid and candid picture of a British woman's life in Thailand in the 1950s: the politics, the coups d'état, summary executions, cholera epidemics, religion, etiquette, manners, food, dress, education, and much more. From 1957 to 1961 Averin and Geoffrey Hinton were attached to the British Embassy in Bangkok. Geoffrey was officially a diplomat with the rank of 1st Secretary, but this was cover for his role as MI6 intelligence officer, though the letters give no hint of what he was really up to.Throughout the posting, Averin wrote round-robin letters to the family back in England, and most of these letters have survived. They show Averin throwing herself with gusto into the role of diplomat's wife, running a household with six or seven servants and their families, entertaining dignitaries, teaching English, mixing with royalty, all amidst an endless whirl of cocktail and dinner parties.This volume, Part 3, contains the letters dated January 1959 to March 1961.

A vivid and candid picture of a British woman's life in Thailand in the 1950s: the politics, the coups d'état, summary executions, cholera epidemics, religion, etiquette, manners, food, dress, education, and much more. From 1957 to 1961 Averin and Geoffrey Hinton were attached to the British Embassy in Bangkok. Geoffrey was officially a diplomat with the rank of 1st Secretary, but this was cover for his role as MI6 intelligence officer, though the letters give no hint of what he was really up to.Throughout the posting, Averin wrote round-robin letters to the family back in England, and most of these letters have survived. They show Averin throwing herself with gusto into the role of diplomat's wife, running a household with six or seven servants and their families, entertaining dignitaries, teaching English, mixing with royalty, all amidst an endless whirl of cocktail and dinner parties.

A vivid and candid picture of a British woman's life in Thailand in the 1950s: the politics, the coups d'état, summary executions, cholera epidemics, religion, etiquette, manners, food, dress, education, and much more. From 1957 to 1961 Averin and Geoffrey Hinton were attached to the British Embassy in Bangkok. Geoffrey was officially a diplomat with the rank of 1st Secretary, but this was cover for his role as MI6 intelligence officer, though the letters give no hint of what he was really up to.Throughout the posting, Averin wrote round-robin letters to the family back in England, and most of these letters have survived. They show Averin throwing herself with gusto into the role of diplomat's wife, running a household with six or seven servants and their families, entertaining dignitaries, teaching English, mixing with royalty, all amidst an endless whirl of cocktail and dinner parties.This volume, Part 2, contains the letters dated January to December 1958.

A vivid picture of life in Oxford and London during World War II: the rationing, the shortages of food, drink, clothes and other necessities, the air-raid warnings, the nights spent in shelters, the voluntary war work, teaching schoolboys to drive tractors, air-raid warden training, but also the everyday life of a normal university student, enthusiastically juggling the essential business of getting a degree with sport, socialising and generally having fun.In October 1940, 19-year-old Averin Macalister went up to Somerville College in Oxford to read French and Spanish. In 1941 she met Geoffrey Hinton, who was working for the Ministry of Information and would soon join Section V, the counterintelligence branch of MI6. They were married in 1942, and Geoffrey was immediately posted to Cairo. Averin took her degree in 1943 and was herself recruited to work for Section V in London.Averin's War is a collection of the letters Averin wrote to her mother from 1940 to 1944. The letters also hint at Averin's and Geoffrey's work for MI6, but this is incidental: Averin's focus is always on family, friendships and relationships. www.orrydian.co.ukwww.orrydian.com