Letters from Skye - Hardcover

Brockmole, Jessica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345542606 ISBN 13: 9780345542601

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2013

Synopsis

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

A sweeping story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s atmospheric debut novel captures the indelible ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the power of the written word to stir the heart.

March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence—sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets—their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive.

June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn’t understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago.

Sparkling with charm and full of captivating period detail, Letters from Skye is a testament to the power of love to overcome great adversity, and marks Jessica Brockmole as a stunning new literary voice.

Praise for Letters from Skye

“Letters from Skye is a captivating love story that celebrates the power of hope to triumph over time and circumstance.”—Vanessa Diffenbaugh, New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers

“[A] remarkable story of two women, their loves, their secrets, and two world wars . . . [in which] the beauty of Scotland, the tragedy of war, the longings of the heart, and the struggles of a family torn apart by disloyalty are brilliantly drawn, leaving just enough blanks to be filled by the reader’s imagination.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Tantalizing . . . sure to please readers who enjoyed other epistolary novels like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.”—Stratford Gazette

“An absorbing and rewarding saga of loss and discovery.”—Kate Alcott, New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker

“A sweeping and sweet (but not saccharine) love story.”—USA Today

“[A] dazzling little jewel.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

About this title

Review:

"This is an enchanting love story, told in a series of letters ... It’s beautifully imagined and blissfully romantic." (The Times)

"This is a gentle love story. Telling it through letters makes the characters more real ... given depth and richness by letters that speak straight from the heart." (The Scotsman)

"A captivating love story that celebrates the power of hope to triumph over time and circumstance." (Vanessa Diffenbaugh, New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers)

"A poignant tale of a stubborn love that bridges the lives and wars of two generations, Letters From Skye gives the reader a story to inhale as well as read, unfolding amid the gripping panorama of a changing world―an absorbing and rewarding saga of loss and discovery." (Kate Alcott, New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker)

"A touching story of forbidden wartime romance, spanning two generations and two separate continents." (The Reading Room)

Book Description:

Through their letters they became the people they wanted to be . . .

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0345542606
• ISBN 13: 9780345542601
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 290