I was shocked to see I had read as much as I did.

The novel read fast because of the narrative style.

I can’t say enough great things about it! That narrative style drew me in to the novel in an unexpected and personal way. I couldn’t help but feel that this story was so real, which for me was due largely to the epistolary style. As the letters continue we see to the hearts of their characters and grow steadily in love with their story. Then with Elspeth’s reply we instantly know by the tone of her letter that she is smart and equally as witty but a little less bold than David. With David’s first letter, though it was short, the reader instantly sees his witty personality and charm. I felt like I knew them immediately from the first letters, rather than ‘getting to know them’, it was as though they were instant personal friends. I connected with them so much more deeply than I have with other characters in a standard novel. I felt like I knew the characters in such a unique and intimate way. There is something surprisingly intimate about a letter. I also thought it would be hard to get to know the characters without having dialog or a back story etc, but I was wrong on both counts. Literally there was no dialogue or back story or anything–just letters. I thought this novel was going to be really confusing as it was told all in letters. Margaret sets out to find her mother and find the secrets and ghosts that her mother has been keeping all these years. She contacts her daughter a week later and explains she’s chasing ghosts in London–nothing more. When Margaret asks her mother about the letters, an argument ensues and Elspeth disappears. When Margaret races to check on her mother she finds a suitcase full of letters addressed to a mysterious woman named “Sue”. One night a bomb rocks Edinburgh near where Elspeth and Margaret live. Her mother raised her alone and has always refused to talk about her father or her life before Margaret was born. In 1940 Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, thinks she knows her mother very well. That first fan letter in 1912 turns into years of correspondence and what slowly becomes a deep love and admiration for each other. One day she receives her very first fan letter from David Graham in America. But that’s not exactly how this story starts out.Įlspeth Dunn is a published poet who lives on the remote Scottish island of Skye. I am a real romantic at heart and to me there is nothing more romantic than a love letter. His letters and heart have been laid before a woman half way around the world, now it’s up to her to decide if she will erase him from her life completely or risk a correspondence.Ī forbidden love story written entirely in letters spanning two world wars? Be still my heart! This is the book I’ve been looking for! What do you do with a married woman besides leave her alone? David Graham is stuck in quite the predicament!

Letters from skye