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A Life in Letters
by P. G. Wodehouse
The definitive edition of the letters - many previously unpublished - of England's greatest comic writer.
P. G. Wodehouse wrote some of the greatest comic masterpieces of all time. So, naturally, we find the same humor and wit in his letters. He offers hilarious accounts of living in England and France, the effects of prohibition, and how to deal with publishers. He even recounts cricket matches played while in a Nazi internment camp (Wodehouse wanted to show the stiff upper lip of the British in the toughest situations). Over the years, Wodehouse corresponded with relatives, friends, and some of the greatest figures of the twentieth century: Agatha Christie, Ira Gershwin, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The letters are arranged chronologically with intersecting sections of biography written by Sophie Ratcliffe. This is the only book you will need to understand the man behind the characters. 16 pages of photographs
1000 Books: What shall we read in July 2026?
OK, /groups/1000_books @1000_Books people, so much for trying to do this in a single round. I'm delighted that by & large I picked books people haven't read yet. But… now we have a four-way tie. So here's another poll, please vote for the book you'd most like to read: Captain Blood by Raphael Sab...
-kim.kovacs
What’s the funniest book you remember reading?
Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series. And of course, Wodehouse, especially the Mr Mulliner books.
-Marcia_H
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (12/25/2025)
Oh, wow, @Lisa_B3 , it's been years since I read any Wodehouse. Thanks for the reminder! I'll need to add that author to my list of fun reads. I've just started This is Happiness by Niall Williams myself, and it's such a pleasant read. I'm so glad the folks here recommended this author.
-kim.kovacs
What author always makes you laugh?
P.G.Wodehouse!!! Always. I love all the Jeeves books. Jeeves and Bertie Wooster equal a fun time!
-Pat_Dodson
"Starred Review. Ever droll and witty, the letters burst with insights about the craft of writing, appraisals of his surroundings, and negotiating the vicissitudes of life...The book is an excellent introduction to Wodehouse's life." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Editor Ratcliffe's (On Sympathy, 2009) generous annotations and judicious edits give scope to a rich, brilliant, happy, oblivious life." - Kirkus
"A Life in Letters gives us the grit along with the wit, including the grubbing and venting that get left out of most readers' mental portrait of the man. In this way, P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters is like nothing Wodehouse published in his lifetime, though the sentences are all his, as are the spaces between the lines." - Ed Park of Bookforum
This information about P. G. Wodehouse was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
P. G. Wodehouse was born in England in 1881 and in 1955 became an American citizen. He published more than ninety books and had a successful career writing lyrics and musicals in collaboration with Jerome Kern, Guy Bolton, and Cole Porter, among others.
Sophie Ratcliffe (Editor) is a tutor in English at Christ Church, Oxford. She lives in England.
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