Tales from Holt Cottage

with posthumous assistance from

Kate Russell Divine Adams

Compiled and edited by Kathryn Adams


Just after the end of World War II, the Divine family moved into Holt Cottage in the town of Loughborough and on the fringes of the future university. Seen through the eyes of Zandra Divine, this book recounts their adventures as they set up a small riding stable and their encounters with the people and animals it brought into their yard. The activities of unconventional parents and grandparents, dotty aunts and a naughty little brother are a source of constant bewilderment to Zandra whose sharp eyes miss nothing. With a student residence 'next door' and her father an art lecturer at the college of art, Loughborough students and their antics are also an integral part of Divine household daily life. Zandra's memoirs and writings left by her mother, Kate, have been compiled and edited by her daughter, Kathryn, making this the combined oeuvre of three generations. Tales from Holt Cottage offers an amusing and affectionate account of childhood and family life in the 1950s.