Yours, for Probably Always
Gellhorn's letters from 1930 to 1949: the Depression, Spain, Normandy, Dachau and the Hemingway marriage, printed with the replies included.
- 2019
About Martha Gellhorn
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeJanet Somerville worked from Gellhorn's restricted papers in Boston to assemble the letters of 1930 to 1949 — the relief work in the Depression, Spain, the Second World War, Normandy, Dachau, and the marriage to Hemingway. What distinguishes it from the Moorehead selection is that it prints responses and letters between other people in her circle, so the correspondence reads as an exchange rather than a monologue. Published by Firefly Books in 2019.
The story, in more detail
Somerville worked from the restricted Gellhorn papers in Boston and confined herself to 1930 to 1949 — from the relief work Gellhorn did for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the Depression, through Spain, the Second World War, Normandy and Dachau, to the end of the decade that included and ended the marriage to Hemingway. Twenty years, at a level of detail no other source reaches, and complete silence on the fifty that followed.
What separates it from the Moorehead selection is that it prints the other side. Replies are included, along with letters between people in Gellhorn's circle that she never saw, so an exchange can be read as an exchange rather than as one voice with the answers missing. Somerville's connecting narrative carries the rest. Correspondents include Dorothy Parker and Chiang Kai-shek as well as Hemingway; the intimacy of the letters is real, and so is the fact that Gellhorn wrote knowing her friends were people who kept things.
Why we recommend it
The war years at close range
Spain through Dachau, in letters written while it was happening rather than recalled afterwards.
The replies are here
Correspondence read as correspondence. It changes what the letters mean.
A different selector
Read against Moorehead's volume, the two editors' choices are themselves informative.
What this book explores
Timeline
1930–1949
The letters run from Gellhorn's Depression relief work through Spain, the Second World War, Normandy, and Dachau, to the end of the decade that included and ended the marriage to Hemingway.
2019
Janet Somerville assembles them from the restricted Gellhorn papers in Boston, and Firefly Books publishes the volume — replies and third-party letters included, so the correspondence reads as an exchange.
Book editions
Hardcover
- Hardcover
- Firefly Books
- 2019
Reader reviews
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Yours, for Probably Always: frequently asked questions
What is Yours, for Probably Always?
A 2019 volume of Martha Gellhorn's letters from 1930 to 1949, assembled by Janet Somerville from Gellhorn's restricted papers in Boston.
What does it cover?
The relief work of the Depression, Spain, the Second World War, Normandy, the liberation of Dachau, and the marriage to Ernest Hemingway.
How does it differ from the Selected Letters?
It confines itself to 1930–1949 and, unlike Caroline Moorehead's selection, prints replies alongside Gellhorn's own letters, so it reads more like a conversation.
Who was Martha Gellhorn?
A pioneering American war correspondent and novelist, and briefly Hemingway's third wife.
What years do the letters span?
1930 to 1949 — from her twenties and her Depression relief work through the end of the Second World War and the Hemingway marriage.