Letter: Memories of Caitlin

Memories of Caitlin

Sir: No one who knew Dylan and Caitlin Thomas during their marriage would recognise the picture that she apparently saw fit to present to her second husband and son ("Dylan was my mother's ruin", 2 December).

I knew the Thomas family well, stayed with them in Laugharne and spent a lot of time with them in London. To say that Caitlin was lacking in confidence and generally oppressed and put down is as far as possible from the truth. I remember her as the head of that chaotic household, an affectionate mother to her small children and well able to hold her own in any dispute with her husband. She did not sacrifice her career to him - although a formidable and competitive woman, she was not a particularly talented dancer.

A great deal of nonsense has been written about, and sometimes by, those two people. It is not reasonable to add to it the evidence of the son of her second marriage on what happened before he was born.

SHEILA CUTFORTH

East Hoathly, East Sussex