From the Bookshelf of Mostly Sapphic…

Letters Never Sent

Sandra Moran

Start date: September 1, 2013

Finish date: September 30, 2013

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What Members Thought

Sep 01, 2013 Jem rated it it was amazing

Shelves: exceptional-writing, drama, mystery-intrigue, parallel-timelines-or-flashbacks, all-time-favorites, favorite-2014-reads, twist-y

Despite all the excellent reviews, I ignored this book for months because I thought it would be too depressing for my taste, after reading the top 2 reviews on Amazon. I'm glad I finally took a chance on it. Let me say first, if you don't mind the minor spoiler, that this isn't tragic at all--very angsty, yes but it ends on a positive note.

Joan, a forty year old married paralegal with two kids, goes home to her recently deceased mother's house to settle her affairs. While cleaning out her house Despite all the excellent reviews, I ignored this book for months because I thought it would be too depressing for my taste, after reading the top 2 reviews on Amazon. I'm glad I finally took a chance on it. Let me say first, if you don't mind the minor spoiler, that this isn't tragic at all--very angsty, yes but it ends on a positive note.

Joan, a forty year old married paralegal with two kids, goes home to her recently deceased mother's house to settle her affairs. While cleaning out her house, she discovers a hidden stash of letters written by her mother but which were never sent out. The emotional and passionate contents of the letters come as a shock to Joan, as all her life, her mother Kate had never been anything but cold and distant.

Her interest piqued, Joan proceeds to investigate the hidden identity of her mother's lover and the circumstances of their love affair. The story goes back and forth in time from the present 1997 to the past (1930s to 1960). The alternating timelines sync perfectly as Joan slowly uncovers the mystery in the present while the author takes us back in time to the beautiful but ill-fated love developing between Kate and her lover. All the while, Joan has to contemplate her own very serious predicament, where any decision can have far-reaching consequences not just for herself, but for her family as well.

This book truly deserves the over a hundred five star reviews it got on Amazon. The characterizations are spot-on, from the brash feminist Annie, to the headstrong but ultimately conformist Kate, to the very conflicted Joan. Their stories are compelling and reflective of the times in which they occurred. The period settings feel authentic. But none of that will make an entertaining book without the ingenious plotting that holds everything together.

A perfect 5 stars!

P.S. Good books like these always make me think too much. And mulling over things sometimes throws up plot holes or some other incongruities. I can usually ignore them but in this book, a couple of important things bothered me a bit. Do not read if you haven't read the book, as these spoil the ending. (view spoiler)

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Jul 17, 2014 Karelia Stetz-Waters rated it it was amazing

This multi-layered story interweaves the narratives of Katherine, a young woman wrestling with her lesbianism in the 1930’s, and Katherine’s daughter Joan who is sorting through her mother’s belongings after Katherine’s death. While packing up the house, Joan discovers a stack of passionate love letters her mother wrote to someone known only as “A.” As Joan reads the letters, the parallel narrative follows Katherine’s passionate love affair with a girl named Annie.

Sandra Moran is a master of hi ...more

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