Structure

The short story “The Woman of Letters” by Angela Readman is structured around the narrator’s actio…

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Beginning

The short story begins in media res, during an interpreting session, when the narrator acts as a translator for May: “It is a perfectly ordinary morning, I have just told a young woman her lips are like strawberries i…

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Middle

The middle of the short story focuses on the way the narrator does her ‘job’ and on her relationship with her clients and Robin, her son.

First, we realise that the narrator does not act like an impartial interpreter or translator. She twists what May and the Canadian man are saying, to give them what each wants to hear:

Onscreen, the man called Benji has replied. You look so hot in that new picture, I want to get you on all fours and… something that should not translate.
‘He wishes you were here’, I say, ‘he needs you like air.’ (ll. 16-18)

Then, we find out the narrator charges her clients more than they can afford, although she knows very well that the women make a financial effort to pay her: “The women who come here can pay half their income for a love letter. It’s a small price for a dream.” (ll. 23-24)

Other surprise el…

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Ending

The ending of the short story shows Robin giving Lily some lettuce from the garden as if it was a bunch of flowers. We discover that the narrator…