There is a hidden and very well-portrayed medical issue for one of the characters, which I felt added so much depth to the book and touched on very real, relatable issues. Armed with liquid courage, Laura decidedly agree to what Dermot wanted in exchange for his acquiescence.

Her novels, short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world. Whereas The Shadow Sister was inspired by the historical relationship between Edward VII and his mistress Alice Keppel, The Love Letter is completely fictional. With no immediate plan for future work, she ends up agreeing to organise a literary festival deep in the English countryside. Both were in solid, established, but unconventional marriages: Vita felt free to continue relationships with women that predated her marriage as her husband Harold Nicolson continued his with men; Virginia and Leonard had negotiated a close but “chaste” way of living and working together. There are some great themes covered in The Love Letter from espionage, to intrigue, history, drama and romance.Every shade of love is here, from the exquisite eloquence of Oscar Wilde and the simple devotion of Robert Browning, to the wonderfully modern misery of the Roman Pliny the Younger. They contain expressions of every shade of love, from the joy of falling in love to the pain of unrequited passion. and of course, she was the virginia woolf and i am just me, but really, need the disparity be so formidable! I can't say I hated it, it definitely had it's moments and I do quite like Katie Fforde's style of writing. I have only read one Katie Fforde book which I really liked and I had high hopes for this one too, unfortunatley it didn't live up to expectations.

There is plenty of action and edge of the seat moments that intensify the tension and suspense of this book. Appealing illustrations combine with a timely message that one kind act can start a chain reaction of kindness. On the surface Vita and Virginia were vastly different: shabby, bohemian but fiercely judgemental Virginia versus well-travelled, “sapphist” and country aristocrat Vita. Her first book, Big Girls’ Shoes, a murder mystery, was published in 1991 and since then she has published over fifty books, thirty of which have been teen novels. Over the ages handwritten letters have facilitated some of the most intimate exchanges between people.Katie Fforde’s books always follow the same winning formula: heroine of the story needs to save/organise something huge, meets man and all is going well until it all goes wrong and it all seems over before the pair before, eventually, it all gets sorted out.

How different would the story have been, if you had set it in the present day (2017), rather than in 1995? Originally published as Seeing Double in 1998, it seems this novel did not receive a great first reaction from readers and publishers alike. I also liked Laura’s friend Monica, who is in a band and is organising the music festival that was accompanying the literary festival. I have to try another book by the author to see if I finally can say I can read this genre or if this was a one off because of this particular plot. It seems a different kind of novel to the others as the author is in the middle of her Seven Sister series so this wasn't as back and forth as some of her other novels, but what it did contain was a good central mystery and the usual crisp writing Lucinda is known for.This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. Katie Fforde books very often have a long buildup, so I was willing to go along for the ride for a while with Laura, even though it seemed to take forever to really get started.