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Sat 05 May 2007The women in Collins's lifeThe recently auctioned letters of Moya Llewelyn-Davis give insights into Michael Collins's personality and his relationship with Kitty Kiernan, writes Melissa Llewelyn-DavisSpy for Michael Collins, fearless and charismatic, Moya Llewelyn-Davies was an amazing woman. She was also my grandmother. So when I read in the Guardian that 14 letters written by her to PS O'Hegarty were up for auction in Dublin, I decided to fly over from London. My sisters and I were brought up on stories about Moya, but we had nothing of substance left, besides two sepia photographs. She had been persuaded not to publish her memoirs in her lifetime; we believe our father destroyed them, along with other personal papers, to protect her reputation and that of Collins, to whom she was close. Perhaps the letters would help to clear up some mysteries, in particular her relationship with Collins. He was certainly the love of her life. And many people, including my father, believed she was the love of his. But he was only 10 when Collins died, and memory is fickle. Some of his stories might be more legend than truth.