WHILE I leave it to others to decide whether or not John Prebble was correct in his view of the Highland Clearances, may I, as his widow, point out that he ceased to be a communist 20 years before he even so much as thought about writing about that particular part of Scottish history? Thus Michael Fry (June 20) is way off beam when he suggests that John was allowing his communist beliefs to colour his thinking and writing and that John's "personal purpose" in writing the book was to give vent to those beliefs.

Jan Prebble, 905 Nelson House, Dolphin Square, London.