LIZ TRENOW
The Last Telegram
Published by AVON
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London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2012
Copyright © Liz Trenow 2012
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020
Cover photograph © CollaborationJS/Trevillion Images
Liz Trenow asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007480821
Ebook Edition © February 2020 ISBN: 9780007480838
Version: 2020-02-14
In memory of my father, Peter Walters (1919–2011), under whose directorship the mill produced many thousands of yards of wartime parachute silk. All of it perfect.
Contents
Book Club Q&A for The Last Telegram, by Liz Trenow
The history of silk owes much to the fairer sex. The Chinese Empress Hsi Ling is credited with its first discovery, in 2640 BC. It is said that a cocoon fell from the mulberry tree, under which she was sitting, into her cup of tea. As she sought to remove the cocoon its sticky threads started to unravel and cling to her fingers. Upon examining the thread more closely she immediately saw its potential and dedicated her life thereafter to the cultivation of the silkworm and production of silk for weaving and embroidery.
From The History of Silk , by Harold Verner