Violette Cunnington

"In fact, we tried to crush it all at birth...for not long after, doubting me, you went away to France. And I, from pride or stupidity—or perhaps from fear—let you go. And as you went I knew my life was in the aeroplane with you. So I went home and wrote you a letter. And you replied with two. And then they came in an avalanche, letters and cables, back and forth, each to the other."  In Search of My Father, pg. 46

On the occasion of setting sail aboard the SS Normandie in early 1938: "We are underway and something must have gone wrong with the rendezvous. You have missed the boat train—mistaken the date—decided to have done with me. Something awful has happened!" In Search of My Father, pg. 47

Telegram sent to Violette who was aboard the Ile de France: '"Guerre inevitable. Descend Plymouth au lieu Havre. T'attends, t'adore." (War inevitable. Land at Plymouth instead Havre. Waiting for you, adore you.) In Search of My Father, pg. 52

1939

In encouraging Cunnington to "replenish her wardrobe" Howard "never ceased to be astonished at her incredible frugality in personal adornment" but convinced her to purchase a dinner dress "with squares in the palest pastel shades" and was amazed at "how little it cost" especially in the purchase of "a necklet of leaves of gilded tin costing two and a half dollars!" In Search of My Father, pg. 48

"Thus lavishly arrayed we sallied forth to one of Hollywood's grandest parties in one of Hollywood's renowned homes. There were two orchestras...strings of coloured lights...roses, orchids and gardenias in festoons from the ceilings—every kind of exotic food and drink—and dozens of stars." In Search of My Father, pg. 48

after Violette's death

"I know there were fears and sadnesses through that period of happiness. We suffered from the barbarism of social-domestic civilisation, from the materialism of the world where it impinged on a delicate and profound relationship, from callousness and misunderstanding and the gross coarseness of looks and words and thoughts. There were times when we were not only in a foreign country but in a foreign planet. Still, there was also sympathy and encouragement—and comprehension..." In Search of My Father, pg. 49

"...tantalising dreams of Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, Japan, the Orient. They remained dreams. We had touched our 'farthest west.'" In Search of My Father, pg. 52

"There were out of the eight months five at least of a joyous and rare perfection, of an awareness of the beauty of life that neither [of us] had known before. Long after, in a grey winter of war, you said wistfully: 'Those five months were the peak. We shall never have anything like that again.' And I argued—'Of course, we will. One day we shall go back, we shall recapture them.' But you insisted: 'No, no—they are gone forever.' ...'Oh, my love, how did you know—how did you know?'" In Search of My Father, pg. 52

"The dream was to drive the car together to the Mediterranean—through Normandy to Paris, through Paris to the Côte d'Or and Provence and on over the Alpes Maritimes, savouring the wines and the cooking, the inns and the villages, the sweet changing landscape." In Search of My Father, pg. 52

"We shall see them, Violette and Leslie, two small figures standing close together against the dark immensity of the desert, standing silent in the still clear air; two faces upturned in wonder at the brilliant firmament: we shall hear their voices:...We are so small, so unimportant...What does the future mean for us...? I am frightened—how can we hold together...? What is the mystery of our coming together...? We can never, never part—it was not just for nothing." In Search of My Father, pg. 52

Howard and Violette listened to the radio together in a flat in Chelsea Manor Street on 3 September 1939 and heard England's declaration of war with Germany. "We were reunited just in time for the first air-raid warning." In Search of My Father, pg. 53

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