The Lost Art of Letter Writing

by Menna Van Praag

In a forgotten nook of Cambridge a little shop stands where thousands of sheets of beautiful paper and hundreds of exquisite pens wait for the next person who, with Clara Cohen's help, will express the love, despair and desire they feel to correspondents alive, estranged or dead. Clara knows better thanmost the power a letter can have to turn a person's life around, so when she discovers a cache of wartime love letters, she follows them on the start of on a profound journey of her own.

Genres: Magical Realism, Fiction, Chick Lit, British Literature, Romance, Fantasy, Contemporary

374 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2017

About the author

Menna van Praag was born in Cambridge, England and studied Modern History at Oxford University. Her first novella - an autobiographical tale about a waitress who aspires to be a writer - Men, Money & Chocolate has been translated into 26 languages. Her magical realism novels are all set among the colleges, cafes and bookshops of Cambridge. The House at the End of Hope Street (2014), The Dress Shop of Dreams (2015), The Witches of Cambridge (2016), The Lost Art of Letter Writing (2017) & The Patron Saint of Lost Souls (2018). Her fantasy trilogy, The Sisters Grimm, was published (2020-24) by Transworld (UK) HarperVoyager (US). She's just published her first series of cozy crime novels: The Biscuit Tin Murders. The final book in the series is out January 31st...

Men, Money & Chocolate: 2009 (Hay House UK & US)

Happier Than She's Ever Been: 2011 (Hay House UK)

The House at the End of Hope Street: 2013 (Penguin US)

The Dress Shop of Dreams: 2014 (Random House US)

The Witches of Cambridge: 2015 (Random House US)

The Lost Art of Letter Writing: 2017 (Allison & Busby UK)

The Patron Saint of Lost Souls: 2018 (Allison & Busby UK)

The Sisters Grimm: 2020 (Transworld, UK & HarperVoyager US)

Night of Demons & Saints: 2022 (Transworld, UK & HarperVoyager US)

Child of Earth & Sky: 2023 (Transworld, UK)

The Biscuit Tin Murders: 2024-25 (Amazon).

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely magical!

Menna van Praag has released another beautiful, mesmerizing story.

Letters. Special gifts of seeing things others can’t. Love. Relationships. Healing. Music.

You will love these characters.

You will love the journey.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clara owns a magical little shop where people can come in to write letters.
Clara also writes letters herself, to people she doesn't know. She gets inspired and she sits at her grandfather's desk and she is practically overtaken by writing. She somehow says just what the recipient needs to hear.

She writes a letter to Ed who has seen great loss in his life, both his first and second wives died. He is raising his teenager daughter alone and he is floundering.

Ava stops into Clara's shop to write a letter. Clara has a magical ability that has kept her from forming attachments to anyone in her adult life.

When Clara finds a box of letters left behind by her grandfather, her life changes course. She sets off yo Amsterdam to find a translator since the letters are written in Dutch.

I wanted to write a detailed description because the description of the book leaves a good bit of the storyline out.

I tend to absolutely love this author's books. I snatched this one up the day it was released without even being able to read an excerpt or a detailed description.
This just isn't my favorite of her books.
I love how her books always involve magical realism but there may actually be too much of it in this story.
The storyline involving Ed's wife just felt depressing.
Ultimately the end of the book doesn't wrap up all the storylines.

I didn't love it. If you read this one and don't love it, don't let it put you off the author. She's written some fantastic books and I was recommend any of the others in a heartbeat.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Cambridge is a little shop that contains thousands of sheets of beautiful pare and many lovely pens. There is also a special desk where people can write a letter. Clara Cohen also writes letters to those who need help. But this is not just Clara’s story. There is the story of Ava who comes into the shop to write a letter, of Ed who receives a letter Clara wrote plus there are letters which Clara finds that tell of a wartime love. As Clara follows the trail of those letters it leads to many changes in her life.
This starts off a rather whimsical story that initially sucked me in. I felt it had a lot of potential and could have been quite charming. However when it got to the ghostly Greer it started to turn more weird. I almost gave up on it at that point. But other aspects, mostly Clara herself made me continue to read. I liked her story and that of the wartime lovers. But too often it felt like it was veering off into too many stories. By the time I reached the end only some of the stories were satisfactorily resolved. Others seemed to end too abruptly. Initially it seemed to be setting up for the story to go one way but kept deviating from it.
So while I enjoyed some aspects of the novel these issues kept me from wholly engaging with it. I guess it depends on a person’s own outlook how well they will respond to this one. It is a bit of an acquired taste

[Jane Pennington · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first started to read this book I was enchanted. Sadly as the story moved on and the characters began to develop, it all became so un-engaging. There were many characters, many sub-plots and only a flimsy thread to tie them together. This is a well meaning story, with a cast of odd types and general misfits. Some of them are pleasant enough, some are dislikeable. None of it amounted to very much at all.
It was disappointing.

[Natalia Iwanyckyj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Magical. Classical Menna van Praag. Delightful stories. Visits from a few characters from Hope Street. Real magic.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I love magical realism but this book might have had a few too many characters with a few too many different “gifts”. I enjoy this author but this was not one of my favorites. Overall, I liked the book, but I would hesitate to recommend it to others.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you would imagine from the title, letters are so important in this book. I loved the sound of Clara’s shop tucked away down an alleyway in Cambridge, with its beautiful stationery and some very special pens. Clara has a particular skill: she writes letters to strangers who need to hear wise, encouraging or supportive words. When she sits down to write, she doesn’t know what she’s going to write. The words just flow. People often come in the shop simply to write letters too, often letters to people who may never read them, letters which help them say things which needed to be said.

When Clara finds a stash of letters written by her great grandmother during the Second World War, she sets off on a quest to Amsterdam to find out more. I think this was my favourite part of the book. The letters were so poignant and it was moving to think of how many people were in a similar position to Clara’s relatives in real life during the war. Clara learned so much about her family and, as her own letters often did for others, she found that her life changed a lot as a result of the letters.

Another strand of the book sees us introduced to some of the people who Clara’s letters have made a difference to. As the blurb doesn’t make mention of these people, I won’t say too much either but their stories were rather touching and there is more than a hint of magic at work there too.

The Lost Art of Letter Writing really is an enchanting read with its themes of magical realism, romance, family, grief and moving on. I enjoyed my first visit to Magical Cambridge and look forward to reading more of the series.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first novel I ever read by this author was The Dress Shop of Dreams and I absolutely loved it. This one, however, I didn't enjoy so much. This book suffers from a rare case of a misleading blurb. It moved quite quickly away from the letter shop and into something else quite opposite. I was not expecting it to be so sad and depressing... Or be related in any way to the world wars and the concentration camps (which I tend to avoid). Or even for the book not to just follow the main character, but other characters with storylines completely independent from the main plot. But despite that, and despite not particularly liking any of the characters, this was a moving story with lots of real-world lessons about love, grief, and living.

[Jessica Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got my hopes up a bit too high on this one based on being a big mail freak, so was disappointed to find that letter writing took a back seat after a strong start and became more of a metaphor. However I still enjoyed the book and the intertwined love stories and the magical realism, and am excited to read the rest of Menna’s books.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite Menna van Praag book. Amazingly magical. Full of heart and beautiful characters.

[Brie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, cheeky, well-written and insightful novel about love, resilience and self-discovery. The story follows Clara as she sets out on an adventure to reawaken herself and solve a family mystery, helping people along the way with her gift for writing special letters. A great read!

[Lisa]

Awww, I thought I was going to love this book! I love writing letters, and one of the things that keeps my grief raw is that I can't write to my parents any more. (They died within 18 months of each other, just a little while ago). 25 years ago they moved interstate and although of course we visited and chatted on the phone, the real way we kept in touch was through regular letters. I would potter about my daily life storing up little titbits of news to share in my letters, which always brought a reply from my father who took pride in answering every letter he ever received. Even though it's nearly a year since my father died, I still find myself composing a paragraph about the pumpkin vine bursting out of the vegie patch, or a meetup with friends, or how beautiful the roses are this year, or the latest book I've read, or some mischief of my dog's.
So this book, about a woman in Cambridge who writes anonymous kindly letters to people she doesn't know because she has a sort of sixth sense about them, really appealed to me. I found myself mentally composing a letter to the man up the street who has planted the most lush and beautiful flower garden we've ever had in the avenue, and one for a mother of three whose partner shot through just before Christmas. It's a nice concept for a book.
But...
Oh dear, it didn't take long to become nauseatingly twee. Magic. Ghosts.
No. What a pity!

[Geoffrey Nutting · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening chapter is great writing introducing you to the shop (The Lost Art Of Letter Writing) and its owner, Clara. Once you've met the main character and the shop, and want to know more, the author doesn't deliver. The rest of the book is about ~8 people, who are not really related to the story. The ending is less than satisfying (doesn't tie everything up well).

[Victoria H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting! It’s tender but also emotionally conflicting and sometimes just straight out sad. I don’t know that the intersections of the story lines were enough for me. Love her writing as always so still a 3 star

[Bundle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked the premise and how the characters all connected at the end, but I disagree with most of the lifestyle choices the author applauds, and the writing was not exceptional enough to make me overlook that.

[Mercedes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming story well done

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, pleasant read. A little disjointed maybe and feels like the author is trying to cover too many themes. However, overall, I liked it.

[Norain · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book contains two separate stories artlessly cobbled together.

On one side, we have Clara who runs a letter writing shop where anyone who stops by are compelled to write and send letters carrying important missives of the unburden-yourself type. Recipients include but are not limited to dead people. No, it won't reach them; as I said, it's more of the unburdening kind of letters, more beneficial to the writer than to the recipient. A cutesy, cosy fiction kind of idea, and nothing particularly wrong about that.

But Clara also has a "hobby". She likes to send unsolicited letters to random strangers whom she feels could benefit from said letters. I don't know about you, but I find the idea of letters from random strangers creepy and bordering on stalker-ish.

One of the strangers Clara writes to is this guy who is grieving over his wife. Three years have passed and he still cannot move on - he is neglecting his daughter and because he has quitted his job, he is also basically neglecting his life as well. Upon receiving Clara's letter however, he decides that it's time for him to pull himself up by the bootstraps, so to speak.

It would have been fine if this story progresses this way. Except that on the day this poor sucker decides to move on, his dead wife comes back. As a ghost.

Ladies and gentlemen, I was completely blindsided. Nothing in the synopsis warned me about this. And that subtitle Warm, humorous with a touch of magic!. I consider a ghost as more than just a touch of magic!

And this is the totally separate storyline, about this grieving husband and his ghost wife and his daughter and a whole cast of different characters, including a genius socially awkward violinist, a librarian with the gift of foresight, and a dance teacher with the gift of changing the lives of any women who cross his path. Good excuse to be a gigolo. The ghost wife and the violinist fall for each other, the librarian falls for the violinist but is spurned, and the dance teacher tells the librarian she should get laid to solve her problem. It is a whole damn web of drama in its own right.

Meanwhile, Clara has her own story involving letters written by her great-grandmother and a family history which she does not know about. She goes to Amsterdam to unravel this family secret. At no point does her story intersect with the ghost story, except near the end, where everyone is reaching resolutions. It is not contrived per se, but it also reads as two separate stories that have no business being in the same book.

Are the stories great on their own? Clara's story is so typical, I have read something like it so many times in the past. In fact, I think I read one such story this year. But that does not mean the writer cannot make something special out of it using her own twist. And the ghost story can definitely stand on its own. I'm not saying I like it particularly. In fact, I find it annoying to suddenly be privy to three adults' discussion about what amounts to an open marriage. But it has a lot of potentials and certainly does not need to be piggyback on a story or concept of a letter writing shop. Without the letter, it would have worked out just fine. And that's why I'm really annoyed.

And finally, to add insult to injury, what kind of ending is that? The librarian who can see the future foresees that the ghost will one day leave the violinist and he will be heartbroken beyond repair. But we never get to that point. The story just halts where, I suppose, the writer can "safely" leave us with happy endings all around for everyone. But, hello? You already told us this miserable future is happening to some of the characters, so why not just get to that point? There is also no explanation, or even a semblance of one, for why everyone has these gifts and why the ghost comes back.

With limited time we have on earth, give this one a miss.

[Kairra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really wasn't the book I thought it was going to be. I'm usually a fantasy/YA reader so this was a bit more 'slice of life' than I'm used to but I accepted that because the premise on the back cover sounded quite fun. What it suggested was a story about a woman chasing the forgotten love letters of her ancestor, a woman who specialises in hand written letters and the magic they can contain. What I got was a bizarre fever dream of various character's stories, slightly interwoven but not really, with mostly unsatisfying endings and a gratuitous and sudden pregnancy.

As a fantasy reader, I'm used to surreal and odd storylines, but this felt so badly thought out. A polygamous relationship with a ghost? A sudden romantic affair with a man 21 years older than her whom she met once before? A man professing to know everything about what a woman needs and wants and sticking his nose into everyone's business while revelling in the fact that it makes him 'irresistable'? And all the while, the characters just seem so..oblivious. No-one really questions how a ghost exists in the world, it takes barely a few seconds for people to adjust and then everyone just gets on with it as if it were perfectly normal. I love yous are said within days of knowing someone, feelings spewing out like a rampant teenager on a hormone trip. I know this fiction but it's too close to real life to be this fictitious, it just ended up feeling ridiculous and cringey. The ending of the book just had me rolling my eyes, after pages of the main character making typically stupid and naive decisions that she wouldn't have made in real life, given the nature of her relationship.

I won't deny, I got hooked in the middle and really enjoyed the story of the main relationship blossoming but the beginning and end disappointed me. I expected a lot more about the actual letter writing shop, I thought we'd get to read letters from a variety of people about intriguing issues and personal stories. I was really excited for that aspect and it almost seemed like an entire side note to the ghost romance and someone being told they need to get laid over and over again.

Not an entire waste of my time but I wouldn't read it again and I probably won't read anything else by this author, since it seems her other works are similar. I'm sure it's a great read for some but this was just not my thing.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read a few of Menna's books, and each of them were unique in their own way, which is why I always read more of her books! In terms of this particular book, I would have to give it a 3.5 as opposed to a 3, as I enjoyed the book however, not to the point of absolutely loving it. I felt that the book had a great premise of characters, which started by introducing Clara, a woman who owns a letter shop, in which she persuades her customers to write letters to important people in their lives. Through her shop, she then meets Ava, who writes a letter to her sister, Helen, and vows to make things right in her own life. As the book goes on, we then learn of Clara's intentions to write letters to strangers, giving them words of wisdom, which often lead to big changes, which is what happened with Edward. After receiving Clara's letters, Edward begins to see his dead wife, Greer, who reappears as a ghost. Through his interactions with Greer, Edward realizes what he needs in his life, which end up benefiting both himself, and his daughter, Tilly. The story moves on to that of Finn, who happens to fall in love with Greer, with Ava wanting to become his friend however, seeing a dark future in his path, decides against it. Other characters who come throughout the book include Pieter, who becomes an important aspect of Clara's life, and Ross, who becomes, as Ava puts it, her first real friend. As the story continues, we learn how important each of these characters are to one another, and how through letters, one can truly learn about oneself in a multitude of ways. This book did give me a sense of pride in letter writing, and to be honest, gave me the courage to write more letters, something that is rare in this day and age! One thing though that I wasn't too keen on, was that I felt there were a few endings which were left unattended, stories that I would have wanted to learn more about, or see how things turned-out in the future. Nevertheless, Menna gives us the chance to cater to our imagination, with this book being one of them to do so.

[Joana Almeida · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, when I started this book last week I said that it was gonna be a 5⭐️ read for me.... well... it wasn’t... it wasn’t bad either, since I gave it 4⭐️ on Goodreads, but there was some aspects in the book that didn’t worked for me!
The book is sort of divided between the stories of 4 characters: Clara, the owner of the shop called “Letters”, Edward, Finn and then Ava, and how, one way or another, their stories sort of interconnected at some given point.
I really thought that because of the first chapters of the story, some of the characters might end up together, but nop, it all happened exactly the opposite I was expecting, and not always in a good way.😫
This aspects as more to do with personal beliefs and experiences than with the book itself, like, and this is a MINOR SPOILER, there’s this couple in the book, and it’s not your typical, “normal” couple per say (can’t say more about it), and one of them is also in love with another person, but, it’s also in love with the current partner, and wants to have both!😤 This was the big thing that made my nerves start to boil inside of me... I knew the story and I understood the point the author was trying to present, but still....this kind of situations just makes me want to slap the characters so badly! If you’re in a relationship with someone, if you say you love that person, then why go and get a second one?!?!?!? Sorry, but that’s a no, no for me! Even in this special circumstances!🤬
But as I said, that’s a personal thing for me, and what I might have disliked in this book, you may find endearing, for me, those moments happened when Clara found her great-grandmother letters and got to read her story.💕 There’s a few other heart-warming moments in this book and we also get to see two previous characters from another of Menna Van Praag book, which I found super cute! So overall, it was a fast paced-read that took us strolling through the streets of Cambridge as well as riding a bike through Amsterdam, all toped with a touch of magic and romance.

[Ape · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lost art of letter writing remains lost in this book. No, this really wasn't for me. I had bought this as a three pack quite a few years ago, read the first two and been increasingly underwhelmed. This got put aside and I stumbled on it by chance the other day so I thought I would get it read.

Admittedly chick lit isn't my bag. This was just far too corny at the end, people's lives too unbelievable - how on God's green earth does Clara make any money in that shop????- and there was too much going on making it bitty and wondering what the point is. There is also far too letter writing going on. Well, I do actually write letters so maybe I had too high expectations of this. The only letters are historical ones hidden away in the attic or people coming to the shop to write letters to dead people to deal with their grief. Oh, and Clara's letters. It's meant to be a thoughtful, altruistic thing, like isn't she a great gal. But I found it creepy, and to be blunt voyeuristic. She goes out walking, peeps in people's houses, decides what is wrong with them and sends them anonymous letters to tell them about it. All supposed to be soul lifting, but quite frankly it would make me want to ring the police.

Too many story lines. Clara and her shop. Her old great granny's letters and their story of the Holocaust in Holland. Her trip to Holland and fling. An architect with two dead wives, one comes back as a ghost but fancies the neighbour now. The violin man. The antisocial librarian who can see folks futures. The Scottish guy who can see how women can achieve their full potential and doesn't mind going up to strangers and giving them his unsolicited wisdom. Again, is it just me? Thank God there's an all knowing patronising man doing the rounds mansplaining to the women of Cambridge how to sort themselves out. And why is it that in these chick lit we have to have plans, timid women who never become themselves or learn to love life until the man comes to complete them. Eye roll.

[Isa (Pages Full of Stars) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, this book left me highly disappointed. During the first 10% or so, I was sure it will be a 5-star read and a new favourite, but it quickly went downhill from there, unfortunately.

I'm even more disappointed, because both the premise and the beginning were absolutely wonderful and I feel that if the author stayed mainly with Clara's story, it could've been a much different book. That said, Clara's plotline was the only one I somehow enjoy, though admittedly it got much worse, in my opinion, in the second half of the book. I think that the whole plotline involving Edward, Greer and Finn didn't bring anything good or substantial to the story. Finn on his own was promising (I adored some of the descriptions of him playing the violin) but his relationship bordered on ridiculous to me. And don't misunderstand me, I've read plenty of paranormal books where something like that would be okay and normal, but here the whole novel was set up as if it's contemporary with light magical realism, so this storyline was quite out of place and made me feel slightly queasy. Similarly, I thought that Ava's plotline didn't bring much to the overall story (the whole thing with Ross felt quite cheesy).

Overall, I feel like there was a big potential. The story with Clara's letter shop and the letters her grandfather left was very intriguing and could've been developed further. Unfortunately, the other subplots that the book focused on didn't work for me at all, and even the good beginning couldn't change my mind in the end.

The only thing I enjoyed was the author's writing style, which gives me hope for her other books (I have two more on my tbr, so I will definitely give her two ore chances).

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite honestly, I have never been disappointed by one of Praag’s books. They just leave you with this warm fuzzy feeling. Don’t misunderstand me; they are not saccharine sweet by any means, but there is a element on magic and you can’t help but find yourself smiling.

Although good, this is not Praag’s best book. I personally felt I wanted to know more about the shop and the way things worked, than the other intertwined storylines. The way Praag describes the shop and how the letter writing ‘works’ had me instantly captivated. It’s a place a want to curl up for endless hours with a cup of hot tea and a cat on my lap.

“A perfect pen falls in love with a single hand. It’s love is lifelong and loyal. In the hand of another it will dry up, it will scratch out words and turn everything into an illegible mess.”

Quirky and mystical but with too many intertwined storylines which remain unresolved at the rather abrupt end. The most enjoyable part was the wartime letters which the main character Clara discovers in her attic. Like I’ve said before, I felt that Clara (and the shops) story was lost amongst the others. This is a shame, as to me it was the most interesting!

This is a good novel full of love and sadness and hope and light. If you’re looking to follow along a journey of discovery, are a lover of the written word, or of pretty stationary; then this is a great book for you!

[insy]

True, unconditional love — as opposed to romantic love, the sort that everyone believes is unconditional, until they discover it's not — is the only sort that fills you, body and soul. It swells your spirit and opens your heart so you feel gratitude and joy to be in this bright bubble of life. It's all-encompassing and non-exclusive. It does not fix its mark upon one person and insist that one is the only one as it is and does not seize upon a single soul and try to alter and tinker and tweak until it's satisfied — that type of love is always edged with pain and suffering. No, it opens its arms to embrace everyone exactly as they are and it trusts that, one day, it will find its perfect match.

This book was a lovely insight to a life of a letter writer, and it was definitely an interesting concept of magical realism and the power of letters. While I didn't feel as connected to any of the characters as I hoped I would, nor for any of the relationships formed (it felt like the author just wanted to pair all the characters in this story romantically), I loved the backstory and suspense element of Clara's ancestors. I also have a little bit of an attachment to the letter writing shop, though I wished it could hold a bigger plot in the story.

[Barbara vdM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't abandon books often, but I did with this one at about the halfway point.

It started promising, with setting up characters and their interaction, but it didn't follow through, which made me feel like I was left hanging. Then several other storylines suddenly appeared, with new charterers hardly linked to the first. It felt like I was reading two or three different books, only connected through a gossamer thread.

The great grandmother's letters got read throughout, almost like a radio station shortly picking up another frequency, before returning to the main program of the journey Clara is taking. It might have worked, had it not been contending with the other storylines.
And then there's the paranormal theme. It's this the norm in this world? Or just the opposite? I still have no clue.

There were some segments that were gems, describing interactions that I loved.
But the title of the book and the blurb really put you on the wrong foot. Shame.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book, although I did like the Dress Shop of Dreams a bit more. Still unsure of the purpose of Marthe’s letters. I thought the letters were a gift from her grandfather to get Clara writing, but instead it was a series of mysterious letters towards Clara finding love. Which was ok too. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, because it didn’t seem to wrap up all the story lines as I thought or hoped. What happened with Finn and the ghost? We knew from Ava’s predictions it would end in heartbreak, but that was left unresolved. Were Ava and Edward really meant for each other? I was disappointed Ava and Ross couldn’t be together. I’d hoped stumbling into the letter shop would have diverted him from his untimely demise. All in all, I will read more by this author, because I do like this dreamy and magical genre.

[The Idle Woman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tonight I picked up a novel for the first time in a month – shame on me! I was looking for something undemanding and The Lost Art of Letter Writing seemed a perfect choice for an autumn evening with the nights drawing in. It turned out to be a bit too self-consciously quaint for my taste, but it’s as cosy and feel-good as a page of motivational quotes. It centres on our heroine, Clara, who runs a very special stationer’s shop in Cambridge. Here, customers are invited to write the one heartfelt letter they’ve always meant to send, and Clara gets satisfaction from helping them tie up their loose ends. When she discovers some of her own, in the form of a bundle of old family papers, her curiosity propels her into a serendipitous adventure...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/10/03/t...

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike some others, who thought this novel began well and then deteriorated, I found I liked it better AFTER some of the more ridiculous elements entered. To begin with, I found it a little twee and airy-fairy, but when the ghost appeared, I decided I wasn't meant to take it seriously, so I suspended my disbelief and just went with the story.

Having said that, I felt there was too much thrown at it: all of those storylines, mostly with tenuous links to each other, and all of the characters with their special gifts/quirks, became rather tiresome. I liked Clara's storyline, in the main, but I did not see the point of some others, and, rather than it making sense in the end, some stories just seemed to fizzle out.

I did not dislike the book, which I found pretty inoffensive and a reasonable way to pass the time, but it would not inspire me to read any more of the author.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Praag created a really enlightening play that is bursting with joy and intense curiosity about what comes next. The forgotten art of letter writing takes you on a journey through a number of story lines that are all somehow linked to the same source of universal emotions like love, sorrow, and the search for purpose.

The level of character development is excellent, and each character is distinctive in their own right. They enliven your imagination and transport you on an adventure into the unknown.

But the conclusion was illogical. Too much happiness and unresolved drama were present. I was hoping Finn would experiencing a heartbreak in order to get himself ready for true love with a human. A ghost returned and fell in love. Otherwise, Greer's return and perseverance to the close devastated me.

Anyhow, it's a nice narrative to get your creative juices flowing.