To War with Whitaker

To War with Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly 1939–1945 is a memoir of World War II written, in diary form, by Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly, that was first published in 1994 to immediate and general critical acclaim.

The actor-novelist Sir Dirk Bogarde wrote in the London Daily Telegraph: "If you buy one more book this year, do make it To War with Whitaker." The author Robert Rhodes James wrote in the London Sunday Express: "An extraordinary story. No review can do justice to the writing." The London Daily Mail commented: "These absolutely spiffing diaries offer a madcap, aristocratic window behind the lines of war" and the reviewer for Woman & Home wrote: "Few diaries from any era could be as fascinating … This is truly compulsive reading."

The book's paperback publisher Mandarin Publishing described it as "A love story that knows no bounds":

When World War II broke out, Dan Ranfurly was dispatched to the Middle East with his faithful valet, Whitaker. These are the diaries of his young wife, Hermione, who, defying the War Office, raced off in hot pursuit of her husband. When Dan was taken prisoner, Hermione vowed never to return home until they were reunited. For six years, travelling alone from Cape Town to Palestine, and meeting such charismatic characters as Churchill, Eisenhower, and a parrot called Coco on the way, she kept her promise.

The Countess's husband Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly, was a lieutenant in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. He was captured by soldiers of Rommel's Afrika Korps, along with General Sir Richard O'Connor and other officers, in Libya in April 1941 when their driver became lost in the dark. A military historian later described it as "the most valuable car-load of booty to fall to the Afrika Korps during its entire existence". He spent the next two years as a prisoner-of-war in Italy.