Inspiration

In this morning’s Guardian, a beautiful series of drawings by Ronald Searle, who died last week, which he produced for his wife Monica in the 1970s while she suffered from a rare and virulent form of cancer.

Searle made a drawing each time his wife underwent treatment, ‘to cheer every dreaded chemotherapy session and evoke the blissful future ahead’. They depict the dilapidated house the Searles had bought together in the south of France a few months before Monica’s diagnosis, and which they restored over the next five years.

She survived, and as the Guardian writes, ‘the intimate drawings stand as a moving testament to love and hope’.

A few months ago, Searle published all 47 drawings in a little book called Les Très Riches Heures de Mrs Mole. Bridie read my blog and ordered lots of copies. So you can now buy the book here.