The Last Letter from Your Lover: A Novel – June 26, 2012 Author: Visit Amazon's Jojo Moyes Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0143121103 | Format: PDF
The Last Letter from Your Lover: A Novel – June 26, 2012 Description
Review
“With its realistically complicated characters and emotionally complex plot, The Last Letter from Your Lover is hopelessly and hopefully romantic.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Crafting a love story that feels not just compelling but true is a very difficult thing indeed—and yet, with The Last Letter from Your Lover, Jojo Moyes has done it twice. I found myself utterly transfixed by both sets of lovers in this marvelous novel. Moyes is a tremendously gifted storyteller, and I'm all admiration.”
—Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife
“A fabulous, emotional, and evocative book—perfect for anyone who loves Mad Men.”
—Sophie Kinsella, bestselling author of Confessions of a Shopaholic
“This story of passion and missed chances—with a twist that provides fresh perspective 40 years later—is entrancing.”
—Parade (Top Pick)
“A prize-winning, cross-generational love story of missed connections and delayed gratification [that] hits a seam of pure romantic gold. . . . A cliffhanger-strewn tale of heartache in two strikingly different eras [and] a tour de force.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Elegiac . . . emotionally ablaze . . . Moyes’s genuinely captivating tale resonates deeply in today’s fast-paced, less gracious world.”
—Publishers Weekly
“What’s astonishing about this ingeniously crafted dual love story . . . is how swiftly and effortlessly Jojo Moyes pulls you in. . . . Like an afternoon spent watching a beloved old movie, made wonderfully new.”
—Barnes & Noble Review
“Toggling between two eras, Moyes cleverly juxtaposes the conventions of old-fashioned and thoroughly modern romance.”
—Booklist
“A modern yet ageless story of the human heart and its tenacity to hold on to a love that will not die or be replaced. Beautifully written . . . Jojo Moyes’s novel gives the satisfaction of a fine wine and meal before the fireplace on a winter’s night.”
—Leila Meacham, New York Times bestselling author of Roses
“Exciting, moving, intriguing; the atmosphere’s perfect, the plotting is masterly, the characters are brilliant.”
—Penny Vincenzi, author of The Best of Times
“An engrossing double love story . . . a captivating tale of missed connections. The Last Letter from Your Lover is itself a love letter to the all-but-disappearing handwritten message.”
—BookPage
About the Author
Jojo Moyes is the New York Times bestselling author of One Plus One, The Girl You Left Behind, Honeymoon in Paris, Me Before You, The Last Letter from Your Lover, Silver Bay, and The Ship of Brides. Moyes writes for a variety of newspapers and magazines. She is married to Charles Arthur, technology editor of The Guardian. They live with their three children on a farm in Essex, England.
- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (June 26, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0143121103
- ISBN-13: 978-0143121107
- Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
The Last Letter From Your Lover is a novel for romantics who believe that true love can never be denied.
Jennifer Stirling wakes in hospital after a car accident, her memory scattered. She returns home with her husband, who seems little more than a stranger, and tries to pick up the threads of a life she doesn't remember. Disorientated and unhappy, she discovers a love letter hidden in a paperback and pieces together a passionate history with a mystery lover.
Forty years later, Ellie discovers a letter in newspaper archives and is drawn by the parallels in her own life. She sets out to discover what happened to the star-crossed lovers, finding a story of love, betrayal, heartbreak and joy.
The story unfolds in a non linear fashion, Jennifer's story takes place in the 1960's but moves between the past and present to recall memories that she has forgotten, and illustrate the life she is leading. Moyes uses this to build tension and anticipation, providing no answers until the conclusion of the book. Ellie's story begins some forty years later, but I was far less interested in it except where it pertained to finding out what happened to Jennifer and `Boot'.
I felt for Jennifer much more than I expected to and I could not help but be swept up in the passion and romance she shared with Anthony. Generally I am unforgiving of infidelity but Moyes does well to ground Jennifer in the morality and social expectations of the sixties where women's choices were limited in a way modern women can barely consider. In contrast, I was far less sympathetic to Ellie, whose petulant and entitled attitude grated on me. It exposed a dilemma I am not terribly comfortable with admitting but I believe is a sign of a good book since it made me think.
This is a novel that I was able to savor while I was on vacation. When I had a spare moment, I picked it up, and whether I had time to read 5 pages or 40, I was so excited to see what was going to happen next.
Jennifer Stirling wakes up in a London hospital in 1968. She doesn't know a lot. She's been in an accident, as evidenced by the jagged scar on her arm. Friends and family, a husband, have visited her, but she doesn't know them. Even when she leaves the hospital, her own home is a mystery to her. She doesn't feel any tie to this man that she's wedded to - wouldn't she feel something? In addition, the way people respond to her makes her wonder what kind of person she was, apparently not a very nice one.
When Jennifer finds a love letter seemingly address to her, signed only with "B," it begins to make sense to her. Perhaps she wasn't in love with her husband after all, but in love with someone else. But who is this man?
The way this story unravels is so unique, since the reader learns about Jennifer's past just as she does. Though I'm usually put off by storylines featuring adultery, the way this was handled with Jennifer almost being two different people, not remembering her former life, somehow lightened what might have normally soured the story for me.
The story of the year of 1968 ends and the story fast-forwards 30 years, introducing new characters. Again adultery is prominent, with Ellie being involved with a married man, wanting more from him and wondering why she's let herself get in this predicament. When she stumbles across an old love letter in some papers at the Daily Mail, she becomes interested in the story, and wants to track the lovers down for a story. She also has a personal angle.
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