With an Introduction by Allan Gotlieb.  One of Canada’s most distinguished diplomats, Charles Ritchie was also a born diarist. Now, for the first time, Ritchie’s diplomatic diaries are collected in one complete volume, covering his entire career in the Canadian Foreign Service. Ritchie creates a startlingly vivid and perceptive portrait of daily life at the centre of major historical events, including one of the finest accounts of the London Blitz ever written — the people in the parks, the shabby streets, the heightened love affairs. Ritchie’s life was a whirl of high-society engagements, and he turns his dry wit and irreverence to the social scene. Evocative and compelling, these diaries beautifully portray a forgotten era.