Sunday, June 30, 2013

Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole

A literary who-done-it that sweeps across two world wars, this novel in letter format encompasses both a transcontinental pen-pal relationship during the first World War and a young woman's journey of self-discovery during WWII.

We know right away these two stories are connected; early on it's clear that the end of the first war story is going to illuminate the beginning of the second - and the getting there is truly the good part.

These are wonderful letters, the kind we don't write any more: back then friendships and entire relationships were sustained on paper and moved only at the speed of postage. And Brockmole does an amazing job fleshing out these characters into completely realized people only through their correspondence.

Book clubs will love this one as much as they did the similarly structured The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. But it's not a simple knock-off; this book stands on its own merit as an exciting read with fantastic storytelling.

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