Novella Macmillan's Last Will and Testament

## Object Information

### Background

Written by Novella Macmillan (née Fontana) in the form of a letter to her friend Andrea Romano in August 1983, a month before her death

### Manufacturer

Written by Novella Macmillan (née Fontana)

### Owner(s)

* Andrea Romano (1983-1990)
* Reannon Woods (née Macmillan) (1990-1999)
* Macmillan Family (2000-present)

**Novella Macmillan's Last Will and Testament** is a will written in the form of a letter from Novella to her friend Andrea Romano. It was written and sent in August 1983, a month before her death. This letter is the allegedly the 'last letter' that Novella wrote in her lifetime.

## Background and History

From 1980 until her death in 1983, Novella was in deep depression as her husband had died in 1980. The only person she talked to extensively during that period of time was her friend Andrea Romano. She sent him over three hundred letters over the three years.

She sent him this letter in August 1983, in which she detailed her feelings that her life felt like it was slowing down and felt like her life was coming to an end. She wrote 'Andrea, if I die tomorrow, I would like to have a will. So I will write it to you, You shall tell my children of my will when I die and you must send this letter to them when the time is right'.

After Andrea was notified of Novella's death, he sent a translated version of this letter back to England, but kept the original Italian version as he felt deeply emotionally attached to it. He also wrote in his diary stating it was like one of the last 'pieces' of Novella, one of his best friends, he had of her before her death.

Just before Andrea's death in 1990, he sent the original letter back to Macmillan House in Gloucestershire, because as he was going to die soon, he could let go of this 'piece' of his friend and send it back to where it truly belongs. Novella's son Benjamin was never able to receive the letter, as he had died three years prior to this letter being resent back to Macmillan House. Instead, Benjamin's son Otto received the letter and immediately called for his aunt Reannon (Novella's daughter) to come and see the letter. He thought it would be more meaningful for her to keep it as it had been her mother who had written it. Reannon treasured the letter until her death in 1999.

After Reannon's death, the letter was once again sent back to Macmillan House and is currently stored in the archives of the house along with other Wills and Testaments of the Macmillan family.

## Contents

**Important Note:** The original letter was written in Italian, but was translated into English by Andrea so that other members of the Macmillan family would understand the will. Both the original and translated version are stored in the Macmillan House archives.

*Dearest Andrea,*

*I hope you have been feeling well, for your happiness matters very much to me. Please do not let my feelings affect yours, for you deserve to be happy.*

*Lately, I have felt as if though my life is speeding up. As if time has finally decided to rush through these last few years. I had been lively and energetic for so long, the tiredness has finally caught up to me. Maybe it is that my life is coming to an end, I do not know. I often do feel that my time in this world is running out. Especially after my miscarriage, I have felt like time itself decided that it was now bored of me and wanted someone new to be its companion, so it is now pushing me quickly further away from him, so one day I will be so far away I will disappear completely.*

*Before I disappear though, I feel like I must write a will of some sort to guide my children. I have been negligent of them over the past years which I must say, is bad on my part, but they must know I still love them very much. They are the stars that light up my night sky.*

*I would like to split all my things between my two remaining children, my dearest Benjamin and Reannon. My dresses, makeup and jewellery shall go to my daughter. She shall also receive the books in my study, for I know she loved to read. For my son, I will leave my cameras and quills along with ink. He has a passion for photography and he will be needing quills and ink for his job. I split my money in half, one half for my son and one for my daughter. I will be deeply saddened if they fight over my things, I wish they can split all the rest between themselves. They can do whatever is left with my belongings, but I hope they do not fight over them.*

*I wish to be buried next to my husband, but he was buried next to his parents in a private chamber in the family church. So if it not possible, I wish to be buried next to my parents too. Take my body back to beautiful Italy and bury me there, but only if I cannot be buried next to my husband.*

*And then when I am buried, I shall reunite with my husband and my pretty Adelaide, who both left us for a better place together. I will meet my parents, my deceased family and even little Anna who died so many years ago. We will live happily together, always.*

*Andrea, I have nothing more to say, I cannot think of anything more. I ask of you to not be saddened by my letter, someday we will be reunited in heaven. Andrea, please be happy and don't let the slightest things let you down, if I die before you, my death will only be a mere 'see you later'. We will meet again in heaven, I swear it.*

*Yours truly,*

*Novella.*