To War with Whitaker: Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939-45

Hermione Llewellyn moved to Australia at 24 to become the personal assistant to the Governor of New South Wales. It was there that she met her husband to be, Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly. On the outbreak of World War II, Daniel Ranfurly was posted to the Middle East and Lady Ranfurly broke all protocol by insisting on joining him there. During her six years traveling she held a variety of jobs and mixed with a myriad of important people: from Churchill, to the kings of Greece, Egypt, and Yugoslavia, and writers such as Noel Coward and Evelyn Waugh. After the war Lord Ranfurly was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. Not one to rest on her laurels, Lady Ranfurly set about providing local schools and libraries with the books they lacked. Upon returning to London she continued to send books all over the world, a service which evolved into the organization Book Aid International, and has sent over 32 million books to libraries across the world.