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Hi Vanessa,

An old school friend of mine recently purchased your new book and brought it here to the UK as I am an admire of your work.

I loved the book.

I am a 74 year old jazz musician who recently lost his wife after a very happy marriage (I knew her for almost 50 years) My dad was a lay cantor and I was educated at a Jewish school.

So you can imagine the "gerfuffle" when we married especially as I had been married to a "nice" Jewish girl for six weeks.

So, not only was I divorced, but I was in love with not only a shiksa, but a Chinese one to boot. I had also given up a career in engineering, signed on in the Royal air Force for an extra year to become an officer.

Nevertheless I married my beautiful Leonie who I met when she was a film extra and I was in the studio orchestra. We subsequently had two sons, one who became a doctor (my son the doctor) and the other who is a senior executive with the Shell oil company.

She died at the end of March 2011 and I'm finding it hard to get over her. But my music helps so much (I still play about two to three times a week.

I hate racism and bigotry which I see here in the UK (and it's growing). So your poetry means a lot to me. I have spoken about you to a lot of my friends, especially the musicians.

Personally I'm not a believer, but I am proud of being a "yiddisher" bloke and I'm proud to have you as a "sister".

When are you coming here to the UK?

With kind regards and best wishes,

Martin Simons

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