Urbana, Illinois, U.S.A
March 5, 1912
Dear Madam,
I hope you won't think me forward, but I wanted to write to express my admiration for your book, From an Eagle's Aerie. I'll admit, I'm not usually a guy for poetry. More often, I can be found with a dog-eared copy of Huck Finn or something else involving mortal peril and escape. But something in your poems touched me more than anything has in years.
Description:
Thus starts the epistolary relationship between a college student in Illinois and an obscure poet living on the Isle of Skye. Their letters over the next thirty years compose the gentle love story found in Jessica Brockmole's debut novel, Letters from Skye.
David Graham and Elspeth Dunn had never met prior to his first fan letter. He comes across her book of poetry while recovering in the hospital from a college prank gone wrong. She, receiving his first letter via her publisher, is genuinely surprised that one of her "humble little works have fled as far as America."
Their letters begin hesitatingly, sharing thoughts about writing, their own very different worlds, and their interests. We as readers are privy to their innermost, private thoughts. She confesses to playing a coronet and having a secret longing to study geology, while he loves dancing and "painting the dean's horse blue."
They are innocents, giddy over this new friendship with someone from such a foreign homeland. They do not know where these letters will take them as they reveal more and more about themselves and their words, but the correspondence continues regularly as they warm to their topics and to each other.
But soon the War comes and their correspondence changes. Their letters are discovered by others close to them with sad consequences for both writers. This becomes a relationship that cannot endure, and David and Elspeth face a reality that is not expected.
A second story also plays out in the novel via a series of letters written in the 1940s between a mother and her daughter. Margaret, the daughter, has run away to be with her own "pen friend," a soldier recovering from wounds and soon heading off to rejoin the fight against the Germans during World War II. We read letters between mother and daughter detailing surviving bombings of London and the problems with loving a soldier. Again, their correspondence reveals more and more about these two women who, unlike David and Elspeth, seem to protect their secrets rather than reveal their personal histories.
This is a delicate book of words, of wonderful language from an era where people wrote what they felt, played with phrases, and delighted in nicknames and jokes private to the correspondents. That people can communicate, grow a relationship, and even fall in love through letters without ever meeting or seeing a photo seems quaint today. But in the hands of a skilled writer like Brockmole, words in the letters exchanged between Elspeth and David have life and honesty in their passion and urgent desire to communicate with one another on an intimate basis.
I fell in love with my wife via the letters we exchanged over the course of a year between our homes in the United States and India, so I know personal relationships between ordinary writers such as Elspeth and David are possible and can produce a great love. Twenty-eight years later, my wife and I still write to each other, whether cards for special occasions, emails when we are apart, or notes on our kitchen blackboard.
Letters from Skye is a special book, a beautiful, secret look into the world of two young people who meet, fall in love, and deal with the consequences of this relationship -- all through their letters. A wonderful way to spend a few hours reading, peaking into the lives of these charming people and feeling the genuine warmth of true friendship and passion found in these letters.
David Graham and Elspeth Dunn had never met prior to his first fan letter. He comes across her book of poetry while recovering in the hospital from a college prank gone wrong. She, receiving his first letter via her publisher, is genuinely surprised that one of her "humble little works have fled as far as America."
Their letters begin hesitatingly, sharing thoughts about writing, their own very different worlds, and their interests. We as readers are privy to their innermost, private thoughts. She confesses to playing a coronet and having a secret longing to study geology, while he loves dancing and "painting the dean's horse blue."
They are innocents, giddy over this new friendship with someone from such a foreign homeland. They do not know where these letters will take them as they reveal more and more about themselves and their words, but the correspondence continues regularly as they warm to their topics and to each other.
But soon the War comes and their correspondence changes. Their letters are discovered by others close to them with sad consequences for both writers. This becomes a relationship that cannot endure, and David and Elspeth face a reality that is not expected.
A second story also plays out in the novel via a series of letters written in the 1940s between a mother and her daughter. Margaret, the daughter, has run away to be with her own "pen friend," a soldier recovering from wounds and soon heading off to rejoin the fight against the Germans during World War II. We read letters between mother and daughter detailing surviving bombings of London and the problems with loving a soldier. Again, their correspondence reveals more and more about these two women who, unlike David and Elspeth, seem to protect their secrets rather than reveal their personal histories.
This is a delicate book of words, of wonderful language from an era where people wrote what they felt, played with phrases, and delighted in nicknames and jokes private to the correspondents. That people can communicate, grow a relationship, and even fall in love through letters without ever meeting or seeing a photo seems quaint today. But in the hands of a skilled writer like Brockmole, words in the letters exchanged between Elspeth and David have life and honesty in their passion and urgent desire to communicate with one another on an intimate basis.
I fell in love with my wife via the letters we exchanged over the course of a year between our homes in the United States and India, so I know personal relationships between ordinary writers such as Elspeth and David are possible and can produce a great love. Twenty-eight years later, my wife and I still write to each other, whether cards for special occasions, emails when we are apart, or notes on our kitchen blackboard.
Letters from Skye is a special book, a beautiful, secret look into the world of two young people who meet, fall in love, and deal with the consequences of this relationship -- all through their letters. A wonderful way to spend a few hours reading, peaking into the lives of these charming people and feeling the genuine warmth of true friendship and passion found in these letters.
Happy reading.
Fred
Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Comments
Previous posts____________________
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Hanff, Helene. 84 Charing Cross Road
Semple, Marie. Where'd Ya Go Bernadette: A Novel
Wonderful correspondence between a New York City writer and a antiquarian bookseller in England centering on the recommendation, discussion, and purchase of quality books (at a cheap cost!).
Semple, Marie. Where'd Ya Go Bernadette: A Novel
Quirky, funny, and satiric epistolary novel detailing an unusual family who plans a trip to Antarctica, only to have the mother disappear just before the departure. (Previously reviewed here.)
