Although a prolific inscriber of her equally prolific output, signed copies of Brittain’s biography of her boon companion of 16 years, and sometime lover (many believe), are fairly scarce. Finding guidance in Mrs Gaskell’s approach to writing the life of her close friend Charlotte Brontë, Brittain also notes another intention of her book: “I hope that Winifred’s story may do something to destroy these tarnished interpretations [of friendships of women], and show its readers that loyalty and affection between women is a noble relationship”. Brittain handled Holtby’s literary estate following her tragic early death in 1935.