"All My Darlings": A Victorian Family in Their Own Words

My aim ... to rescue from oblivion the lives of ordinary people – Athol Fugard


In 2005, Patricia Neate inherited a dusty Regency desk that had once belonged to her husband's great grandfather, George Augustus Macirone. Sagging under the weight of papers, it sat in the spare room, shedding rosewood veneer. Something had to be done.

Patricia took a deep breath and opened it up. She pulled out a packet of yellowed letters, brown at the edges – scores of tiny envelopes addressed to George Maciro...