LETTERS TO A STRANGER

MY THOUGHTS:

Letters to a Stranger was a wonderful story about Ruby Summers, who had lived an amazing life.  She is now ninety-six years old and lives in a retirement home.  Meanwhile, Cassie and Noah, mother and son, are living life at the start of the pandemic in March of 2020.  The storyline’s dual timelines are 1940 and 2020.  During the eighty year time span of this story, so much happens through handwritten letters, texts, emails and diary entries.  I found Ruby’s story about her past to be completely intriguing, and it ties up all the loose ends of how all the lives are intertwined.  I was flying through the pages at a rapid pace as I couldn’t wait to find out the end of the story.

I am a huge fan of time slip novels and Letters to a Stranger did not disappoint. Author Sarah Mitchell does a fantastic job of keeping the different timelines separated so that they don't become confusing.   I enjoyed this story very much and I found the characters to be both relatable and likable.   This multi-generational story was heartfelt and very engrossing with all the letters, texts and emails. I loved it from beginning to end.  This brilliantly written and captivating, time slip novel is one that I highly recommend.

DESCRIPTION:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out

LETTERS TO A STRANGER
Author:  Sarah Mitchell
Publisher:  Bookouture 
Publication Date: MARCH 9, 2023 
Pages: 453 
Buy on Amazon

England, 1940. Dearest Ruby, you must have heard the news by now. The very worst has happened. Our countries are at war. What can I do? How can I stop this nightmare from happening? One day soon we’ll be together again. I swear. I love you. E. x

Present day. Ruby Summers has lived an extraordinary life. Now, at ninety-six years old and living in a quiet countryside retirement home, Ruby may be an elderly lady, but her memory remains perfect.

She remembers the summer in rural Norfolk eighty years ago when she fell in love with Edmondo, and the stolen moments spent in the orchard dreaming of their future. But tears fill her green eyes when she also remembers the September morning they embraced as they listened to war being declared on the wireless. As her village turned against Edmondo and his Italian family, Ruby knew she would be forced to make an impossible choice – one that would lead to a betrayal her heart never recovered from, and an earth-shattering secret she has never shared…

But when lonely Ruby decides to take part in a letter-writing scheme for the elderly, and single mother Cassie replies, she realises this could be her chance. Her last chance. By revisiting her past, can she finally share the secret that has haunted her for all these years? And will her unexpected connection with Cassie unearth truths even Ruby never knew were hidden – or will it tear both their lives apart? 

ABOUT SARAH MITCHELL

Sarah grew up in Norfolk and studied law at Cambridge University which led to a career as a barrister, working mainly in the field of human rights. After nearly twenty years she was tempted off-track by a creative writing course at the Open University and fell in love with making up stories instead of constructing arguments. Three years later she completed, with distinction, an MA in Creative Writing – Prose Fiction at the UEA.

Now she lives in Norfolk again, this time with her husband and three almost-grown-up children, where she combines writing with some legal work – and thanking her enormous number of lucky stars.

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