TO WAR WITH WHITAKER

Just married at the start of WWII, the Countess of Ranfurly had no intention of sending her husband off to war without her. Defying the War Office, she joined his valet, Whitaker, and became a valued staff secretary to various generals in the Middle East, bouncing between Cape Town and Cairo, courting danger, and meeting the likes of Churchill and Eisenhower. British actress Patricia Hodge reads these diaries with an intimacy and directness that preserve their immediacy and all the youthful countess's daring. Her vitality as a reader bridges the many facets of the countess's personality. Part of the time Hodge is the buoyant, energetic countess, exploring the mountains of Lebanon; the next day she is the efficient secretary to General Jumbo Wilson, organizing the drive to push Rommel out of North Africa. Ranfurly and Hodge combine to show another face of war. P.E.F. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 98]