Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, London, England, 1971 July 1 : autograph manuscript signed.

Telling him "I just got your letter about my book jacket [see MA 23840.860]," thanking him for his help with it and expressing gratitude that he happened to be in London at the time; relating how rushed the publication of this particular book has been, to the extent that the publisher [John Murray] at first didn't even want to send her the proofs for correction; admitting "I feel I can't take another disappointment, not just yet, not so quickly" but that "I'm determined on one thing-- I'm not going to let myself be ground down again by anything," and resolving to remember that "[n]othing will kill me-- something will of course, one day, but it's not going to be anything like that, anything so trivial"; announcing "[t]omorrow Ava is sitting for the entrance exam for the School of Architecture," which Jhab thinks she has a good chance at, and admitting she herself is so nervous about it that "last night I dreamed I [underlined] had to take the exam"; pointing out that as long as Ava is at the School of Architecture, Jhab "won't be able to set any papers or sit on any more examination boards" because of the potential conflict of interest; explaining that the degree takes five years, but that "I'll try and get her out after 2 years & send her to America" to avoid her getting romantically "entangled"; pointing to the example of her older daughter Renana, who has a serious boyfriend-- "She's happy enough of course but look how it's cut her off ... she could be starting out on a completely new life, she should [underlined] be starting out on it-- but instead she's all tied up [with Polly's academic schedule] and no longer free to choose and move about and learn new things"; admitting that Polly is a nice boy-- "very good husband material"-- but "he doesn't to me seem to have any range, or originality, and is not I would say a person to open many new doors for her"; conceding that "[t]here's nothing we can do-- except now, if possible, protect Ava," for whom "the possibilities for premature entanglement are ... far wider"; taking solace in the fact that the "3rd problem waiting" [i.e. the Jhabvala's youngest daughter Firoza, or "Poji"] "is the squarest child that ever breathed. Both figuratively and literally"; asking about London, and about Ivory's projected holiday in Morocco.