jojo moyes | BOOK HARBINGER

It’s October of 1960, and Jennifer Stirling is doesn’t know what to feel. She awoke in a hospital bed to the inquisitive voices of the nurses, not knowing how long she had been there and why. Her initial needs are basic: all she wants is to find the words to observe the world around her. She surely wasn’t asking for her husband (what husband?), as the nurses inferred from her resoluteness upon waking. Laurence, who appears to be ten years her senior, is handsome, wealthy, and seems kind, but why does she not remember him or feel any love towards him? Was she happy in her former life of homemaking and social calls? She accepts the fact that she may need to coast along, filling the role of wife and friend of everyone’s expectations until she comes across an impassioned letter from “B,” a man who is not her husband. A man who was willing to give up everything for her, a man Jennifer can’t get out of her head.

More than forty years later, the same letter will be found by a woman in the archives of a newspaper in London named Ellie Haworth, a wrier struggling to revitalize her career with the paper. In her quick obsession with the lovers she ties up the ending of her own complicated relationship with a married man with Jennifer and B’s affair. If only theirs had a happy ending, she thinks, then maybe hers could too. But as Ellie investigates further she learns that such relationships are far from clear cut and decades in fact may make all the difference in the world.

Sounds epic, doesn’t it? Double, multi-generational love stories set in both 1960s and modern day London? I had not a clue what to expect but that The Last Letter From Your Lover came strongly and convincingly recommended by Laura of A Jane of All Reads. If that wasn’t already enough to put it on my radar, Sarra Manning listed Jojo Moyes as a read-alike to her own complex chick lit novels, and with that, the book became a no-brainer buy for me. Isn’t the muted turquoise of the US edition just lovely? I’m glad I waited for it and even more glad that I read it.

As any synopsis of The Last Letter From Your Lover would begin, the book starts out from Jennifer’s eyes as she awakens from her accident. The ways the plot can unfold when a main character who initially has no memory are always thrilling to me. It was clear there was more to meet the eye than picture perfect trophy wife Jennifer and well-mannered Laurence. From there the narrative jumps around from before and after the accident in 1960 and to 1964 with changing viewpoints but it’s seamlessly and tantalizingly done. I was completely addicted the moment I read the passion in the first letter Jennifer comes across from B. Most chapters end with a sense that something big and decisive is about to happen, but then when you turn the page, you’re transported to a different point in time or a different perspective. The lovers are thwarted again and again and to be left hanging was awful at times. I hate being spoiled and vigilantly keep away from spoilers in reviews but I couldn’t help looking ahead on a few occasions to allay my fears, that’s how utterly invested I was in these two. This is not to say that the pace or plot ever lull but that I so desperately wanted Jennifer and B to end up together, I became a little obsessed to know their final fate. Naturally when the fixation is at its worst is when the perspective shifts from Jennifer to Ellie and the time period from the 60s to the present day. But my worries that I would prefer one of the time periods over another were quickly put to rest. Though Ellie exists more to bring the past and the present together this didn’t make her story any less enjoyable or more predictable. There are also a couple of shocking reveals that I did not see coming – don’t you love when that happens? Overall The Last Letter From Your Lover was lovely, unexpected, and offers a hard won yet sweet ending. The clear and assured writing was completely fluid and effortless to read and it’s not a matter of if but which title from Jojo Moyes’ backlist I will read next. For now I’m already looking forward to passing this one around.

Second Opinions
A Jane of All Reads Review
Book Bliss Review
Booking Mama Review
Chick Lit Review
Luxury Reading Review

Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

From Goodreads:

A sophisticated, page-turning double love story spanning forty years-an unforgettable Brief Encounter for our times.

It is 1960. When Jennifer Stirling wakes up in the hospital, she can remember nothing-not the tragic car accident that put her there, not her husband, not even who she is. She feels like a stranger in her own life until she stumbles upon an impassioned letter, signed simply B”, asking her to leave her husband.

Years later, in 2003, a journalist named Ellie discovers the same enigmatic letter in a forgotten file in her newspaper’s archives. She becomes obsessed by the story and hopeful that it can resurrect her faltering career. Perhaps if these lovers had a happy ending she will find one to her own complicated love life, too. Ellie’s search will rewrite history and help her see the truth about her own modern romance.

A spellbinding, intoxicating love story with a knockout ending, The Last Letter from Your Lover will appeal to the readers who have made One Day and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society bestsellers.

Sounds delicious, right? It was Life After Jane’s gushing review that first put The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes on my radar, which was published in the UK last year. The title is a tad literal for my taste, but I love the US cover and I’m always on the lookout for another contemporary romance-type read. I didn’t seriously add this to the TBR though until I saw that Sarra Manning of Unsticky fame recommended Jojo Moyes as an author who writes contemporary romance with depth. (Much thanks to Chachic for daring to ask the author herself via Twitter). With that strong rec now I definitely cannot wait to read Moyes latest, which is due out internationally on July 7.