Gina Bon narrates her recollections of her time as secretary to Anna Freud (and to Dorothy Burlingham) from approximately 1970 to the time of Anna Freud's death in 1982. She accounts for the profound effect Anna Freud's life and work had on many people. Bon describes Anna Freud's method of dealing with an enormous volume of correspondence, dictation, and discussion; she provides insights into her organized mode which led to her writing innumerable papers. There is a sketch of Dorothy Burlingham's unobtrusive and special function as Anna Freud's companion and intellectual collaborator. The narrative is replete with Anna Freud's witty interchanges and wise remarks together with her evident compassion and real interest in her interlocutors. Previously unpublished letters from Anna Freud and from Dorothy Burlingham are reproduced here. Bon provides evidence of Anna Freud's copious energies and many inspiring gifts and gives a portrait of a woman whose strength of mind and “bright and undiminished spirit” challenged to the end the trials of her mortal illness.