Set in 1936, 'Smoke Portrait' traces the development of an unlikely friendship between a young Belgian teenager Marten Kuypers, and Glen Phayre, a young English woman in her twenties. Glen has left England to live with her aunt, who runs a tea planatation in Ceylon and fills her days with good works, among them the task of writing letters to a Belgian prisoner. But the ltters go astray, and are received instead by Marten, who decides to reply to Glen in the guise of a grown-up prisoner. As their correspondence evolves, they ...
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Set in 1936, 'Smoke Portrait' traces the development of an unlikely friendship between a young Belgian teenager Marten Kuypers, and Glen Phayre, a young English woman in her twenties. Glen has left England to live with her aunt, who runs a tea planatation in Ceylon and fills her days with good works, among them the task of writing letters to a Belgian prisoner. But the ltters go astray, and are received instead by Marten, who decides to reply to Glen in the guise of a grown-up prisoner. As their correspondence evolves, they both assume identities that, while false in many respects, remain true to their own selves in other ways. Gradually they come to depend on each othe, and their pen friendship proves to be crucial when events in their real lives take on a darker, more threatening significance in the shadow of the impending world war.
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