Salinger's letters to daughter go on sale

A cache of intimate letters written by the reclusive author JD Salinger to his daughter is to be auctioned next month.

The archive, expected to fetch up to £250,000 at Sotheby's in New York on December 12, reveals the complex and often turbulent relationship that Margaret Salinger had with her father, author of the cult novel Catcher In The Rye. The correspondence began when she was two and ended when she was 37.

Marsha Malinowski of Sotheby's said: "Few authors are as closely associated with their fictional creations as Salinger. His letters to Peggy [Margaret Salinger] reveal that this connection between life and literature is not simply a projection on the part of many of his readers, but an undeniable truth." The letters cover a range of topics from Margaret's stuffed toys and her boarding school to her father's problems with lawyers.

Last year, Ms Salinger published memoirs which exposed the "terrible and beautiful world" of her childhood. The book said she had been estranged from her father since 1993, when he castigated her for her pregnancy. The letters stopped shortly before the rift.