Letters From the Past by Erica James

 

                                   

Hardback: 508 pages

Genre: Romantic Fiction, Family Saga, Historical Fiction,

Publisher: Orion 2020

Source:  Tywyn Library

First Sentences: Out in the garden Evelyn Devereux could hear ringing from inside the house. with an energetic step, she dashed up the lawn, assuming it was one of the children calling to say which train they would be on.

Setting: Suffolk, England

Review Quote: 'A captivating read: beautifully written and heartrendingly sad' Daily Telegraph

My Opinion:  As a long time fan of the author I had been looking forward to reading this sequel to  Coming Home to Island House. Letters From the Past is a heart rending story with the return of an extensive cast of characters.

The reader catches up with the extended Devereux family nearly twenty years later in the early sixties. Every characters story is told with flashback chapters to the war years. Erica James does a skilful task of bringing everything together in such a way that makes for an absorbing read. Poison Pen letters received by various family members bring all sorts of issues and secrets to light, causing much trouble and stress.

To be honest although it is not necessary to have read the previous novel, it will add to your enjoyment if you have done so. I am now left wanting to know what happens to all the characters next, another volume maybe? Recommended to fans of the author and those readers that love a family saga.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Suffolk, 1962. The Devereux family are gathering for a party, and a series of anonymous letters are about to turn the sleepy village of Melstead St Mary upside down . . .

Evelyn is preparing to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary, but there are secrets she's never told her beloved husband, Kit. Secrets that stretch back to her wartime days at Bletchley Park . . .

For Hope, her sister-in-law, happiness has never come easily, and the letter she receives could destroy her fragile world. While, up at Melstead Hall, Julia has discovered that life she married into comes at a heavy price.

And halfway across the world, the indomitable Romily is longing for home. But with the Devereux family under threat, she finds herself confronting her own closely guarded secret. Can she save the day, and seize her own chance of happiness?

From the gorgeous Suffolk countryside to the sun-baked desert of Palm Springs, let Erica James sweep you away...

Author Profile:         

                                                   

                                                           Courtesy of Authors Website

In the author's own words from her website.

I grew up on the south coast of England with never a thought in my head as a child that I would one day be an author. But somehow, I’m now the author of twenty-four bestselling novels, with recent Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers including Swallowtail Summer, Coming Home to Island House, Letters from the Past, and Mothers and Daughters.  With sales of over five million around the world, including a No. 1 in Norway, I’m told that my books are loved by readers looking for beautifully drawn relationships, emotionally powerful storylines and evocative settings. 

In 2006 my novel Gardens of Delight won the Romantic Novel of the Year award and in 2020 I received the Nielsen Silver Award for sales of over a quarter of a million copies for both Love and Devotion and Tell it to the Skies. 

I live in Suffolk and travel as often as time permits to see my eldest son and his family in the US and my youngest son in Japan.

Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Erica James - Official Website.   Erica James - Twitter.  Instagram - Erica James

Goodreads Author Profile  Erica James - Amazon Author Page.  Erica James - Facebook