In 1912, while stuck in a hospital bed in Urbana, Illinois, David Graham read a book of poetry that he loved so much, he decided to write a letter to the author. Elspeth Dunn, who had never left her beloved Isle of Skye received the letter, and thus began a correspondence between the two; letters that shared their hopes, dreams, and eventually led to their falling in love. But as they fell in love, there were other forces at play. World War I was just beginning, and David was keen to prove himself and get involved.
Flashforward to 1940 and Elspeth's daughter, Margaret, finds herself falling in love with her best friend Paul, who has enlisted with the RAF in the second World War. Elspeth warns her daughter against falling in love during war time, but Maisie is heedless. When her mother disappears after Edinburgh is bombed, Maisie goes looking for her mother's past so that she can understand her present and look to the future.
An epistolary novel, Jessica Brockmole's debut, was a very quick read. I looked forward to each letter as if I was receiving them in the mail myself. When I read novels like this, I miss the days when people would send letters to one another. They were always so much more personal. My grandmother and I used to correspond via handwritten letter, and I remember feeling empty knowing I would never get another letter from her after she died.
The book is very sweet, and as cliche as happy endings can be, I feel fine with the cavities that I got from the ending.
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