Not Only Ours: A Story of Greene County, New York (The Women War Correspondents Series)

Brooks Atkinson (1894-1984) was a 1947 Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting from Moscow after WWII and was the venerated New York Times drama critic from 1925-1960. He was a force to be reckoned with but so was his wife, Oriana, a best-selling novelist and journalist of her own; and when Oriana Atkinson wanted something, she knew exactly how to handle Brooks.After visiting fellow drama critic Percy Hammond's summer home, Oriana decided that the Atkinson family needed the same. Brooks was against it, but eventually relinquished he was happy with mountains. Though a city girl through and through, she remembered her father's affection for the Strout Farm Catalogue, and so Oriana began her quest for a special place, a place to rest up from the hub-bub. The Catskills were close enough but far away enough to leave the city behind, and the Strout Farm Catalogue said something might be available in Greene County, New York.What she chose was an old 'fixer-upper' under which attic even the chickens were pleased to roam. Against his better inclinations, Brooks went along and somehow found charm in that old home which had a rich history, even as the chickens had to be expelled.Not Only Ours explores Oriana's search and her and Brooks' growing warmth with their country getaway which also became a destination for family and famous friends visits in later years. As Oriana charms her dear reader with hilarious stories of family life in the summers of the Catskills, she also gives credit to living life on its own terms. The Catskills became the inspiration for several of her novels about family and life in the olden times in the mountains of the northeast.