TWO sisters were busy sorting through their mother's belongings after her death when they discovered a huge cache of letters. The letters were nearly 40 years of correspondence between the sisters‚ mother and her own mother, writes Helen Davis.

'Oh my God, let's throw this lot out‚' was one sister's reaction. Thankfully the other sister held on to the letters – all 1.6million words of them. This sister – Angela Potter – has now edited the letters into an impressive book, Shared Histories, Transatlantic Letters between a Mother and Daughter 1929-66.

The book gives an intriguing insight of two women's lives through the second world war when Angela's mother, Virginia Potter, lived in England and Angela's grandmother, Virginia Dickinson Reynolds, lived on the other side of the Atlantic in Richmond, Virginia. The letters, which were written on a weekly basis, are full of details about private lives, the politics of the time and invaluable social history. 'They're very frank,' said Angela Potter, an established author with a BA from Exeter University in English and American Studies, who lives on the edge of Dartmoor and works as a librarian. The letters are particularly fascinating as both women were of 'good family' and enjoyed an active social life. Virginia Dickinson Reynolds was the daughter of a Confederate army officer and a southern heiress. Distantly related to the poet Emily Dickinson, Virginia was cultured and well-read, established in her role in Virginian society and mixing with the cream of American society.

Her daughter, Virginia Potter, married an English Guards Officer in 1936 and brought up her family in England. Their glamorous life in London is described in her letters. In 1941 she wrote: George and I were asked to a small dance by TM (Their Majesties) at the castle. We had a few Lambeth Walks and Boomps-a-Daisies, also a Paul Jones, one of which I danced with the host (King George VI) who is incidentally a very good dancer. Celebrities crop up regularly throughout the letters, including Walt Disney, Agatha Christie and Laurence Olivier. No one's life is nothing but parties, however, and wartime hardships, colour prejudice in America, marriage problems and financial snags are all well documented in Shared Histories. The letters immerse the reader in the two women's lives, making you smile at Virginia Potter's wry comment 'So now I'm a fishwife,' when her husband enters the fish business at Brixham; making you laugh at the maid who mixed the best cocktails ever when told to 'put everything in‚ to soften up the bank manager', and stirring the reader with Angela's grandmother's comments on the need for America to enter the war: 'I think we should fight for freedom and ideals'. Angela Potter launched Shared Histories at Dartington last week, first giving a riveting talk on the book as part of Ways with Words. The audience gasped when a friend modelled the glamorous sequined dress that Angela's mother had worn the first time she met Angela's father – and it was no surprise to hear that he had proposed the same night. In 1960, Virginia Potter wrote to her mother: 'Your letters are like a breath of fresh air to me – I can't bear to part with them.' Readers of Shared Histories will know exactly what she meant. Shared Histories is published by the University of Georgia and available from all good bookshops priced £17.50.