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A review by linseyr
The Book of Last Letters by Kerry Barrett
4.0
I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a beautiful story. Elsie is a nurse during WWII who decides to embark on a project of recording hospital patients' "last letters" in case they pass away. While it starts as something just for the wounded from the war, it expands to include all patients at the hospital, bringing them together in ways big and small. How a book of letters connects us to people even decades later then comes to light with Stephanie, a modern day caregiver in a home that used to be the hospital that Nurse Elsie worked at. Stephanie feels Elsie as a kindred spirit, and embarks on a journey to find out what happened to her as well as others that wrote "last letters" in Elsie's book.
Weaving love stories in with mystery, emotions of course run high-both in the war era and current day. Elsie and Stephanie are determined and beautiful souls who've both been damaged by loss and betrayal, and use that as a springboard to the way they live-and change-their lives. My only wish when it comes to this book and how it was all sewed together at the end is that I wish that we would have known more about Elsie's neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Gold, who helped her escape danger and live her life how it was meant to be lived. There isn't much said about how they were able to do so and I found myself wanting to hear their story.
While this book was beautifully written, my only complaint is the formatting. Maybe it's just me but it drives me nuts when dialogue isn't clearly split up so you can see who says what. When there's a paragraph full of conversation without breaks, sometimes it can be harder to follow. It didn't affect the book a whole lot, and it could just be that that is the way that it's formatted in the Kindle version.
All in all a nice story, with a viewpoint on WWII that I had not considered before despite being an avid reader of all things WWII.
Thanks NetGalley and Kerry Barrett for the read!
This was a beautiful story. Elsie is a nurse during WWII who decides to embark on a project of recording hospital patients' "last letters" in case they pass away. While it starts as something just for the wounded from the war, it expands to include all patients at the hospital, bringing them together in ways big and small. How a book of letters connects us to people even decades later then comes to light with Stephanie, a modern day caregiver in a home that used to be the hospital that Nurse Elsie worked at. Stephanie feels Elsie as a kindred spirit, and embarks on a journey to find out what happened to her as well as others that wrote "last letters" in Elsie's book.
Weaving love stories in with mystery, emotions of course run high-both in the war era and current day. Elsie and Stephanie are determined and beautiful souls who've both been damaged by loss and betrayal, and use that as a springboard to the way they live-and change-their lives. My only wish when it comes to this book and how it was all sewed together at the end is that I wish that we would have known more about Elsie's neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Gold, who helped her escape danger and live her life how it was meant to be lived. There isn't much said about how they were able to do so and I found myself wanting to hear their story.
While this book was beautifully written, my only complaint is the formatting. Maybe it's just me but it drives me nuts when dialogue isn't clearly split up so you can see who says what. When there's a paragraph full of conversation without breaks, sometimes it can be harder to follow. It didn't affect the book a whole lot, and it could just be that that is the way that it's formatted in the Kindle version.
All in all a nice story, with a viewpoint on WWII that I had not considered before despite being an avid reader of all things WWII.
Thanks NetGalley and Kerry Barrett for the read!