Montreal, 15 February 1961

Autograph letter signed (“Leonard”) to Marianne Ihlen ("My darling Marianne"), Montreal, 15 February 1961.

Two pages, 277 x 215mm (a touch of minor soiling).

“My darling girl, I think of you so much, I stare at your picture. I know that we were happy and can be happy again. But I do not know when.”

Still writing from 3702 Mountain Street in Montreal, the difficulty of a long-distance romance becomes apparent as he struggles to reconcile his feelings for her with his desire for solitude and independence. “Forgive my long silence. I have not even spoken to myself... I do not doubt you. My last letter did not mean that I doubted you. I suppose I felt your loneliness and sensed something of your confusion—or was it my own?” He continues to discuss his financial difficulties, as a response from the CBC is not what he had hoped. He provides an update on The Favorite Game: "I will have to do a long rewriting job on the novel, and even then I'm not sure this American house will take it, although they say they have never come across a manuscript just like it."

He closes: “Ahead of me for the next few months—work and solitude... Please understand that I can promise nothing. I've said this to you before. It is not for you, but for my own conscience that I repeat it. Write me and tell me your heart.”

By descent from Marianne Ihlen.