A Villa in Tuscany

This is the story of a beautiful, lifelong friendship of laughter that centred around the Villa Marchio near Lucca, Tuscany, where John Fleming and Hugh Honour, both art historians and the last great British eccentrics, had created the perfect life for themselves. They first met Susanna Johnston, their quirky neighbour-to-be, at Oris Origo's villa set on a rocky promontory in Lerici when we she was down and out looking for a job as a teenager. They adopted her much like a stray cat. Why don't you stay on at Lerici and read for the blind last lover of Henry James, they suggested...?

Susanna Johnston was one of Britain's most acclaimed novelists and a former feature writer for Tatler. She died on 5 March 2022 with obituaries in The Times and Daily Telegraph.