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A review by portybelle
The Girl in the Letter by Emily Gunnis
4.0
The story begins with a rather dramatic prologue. We read a letter from Ivy to a little girl Elvira, encouraging her to escape and promising to create a distraction so she can get away. Ivy had been sent to a mother and baby home in the 1950s after becoming pregnant and being abandoned by her lover. In the present day, journalist Sam comes across letters from Ivy to her love begging him to come for her and their child. She believes these letters were found in antique furniture her late grandfather had bought. She is very moved by the letters and becomes determined to find out who ‘the girl in the letter’ was and what happened to her.
I love a story which moves between different time periods and where you begin to guess at the connections between the stories a little at a time. In this book, although I began to suspect the connections between the characters, I was taken by surprise so many times by the author. My heart just went out to Ivy and the situation she found herself in. She seemed to get absolutely no comfort or support from anyone and certainly not from any of the nuns who ran St Margaret’s House. (Please someone tell me that not all nuns were as awful as those we often read about in books set in mother and baby homes?). She was turned away and betrayed by so many people who should have loved her. And yet for all her misfortune, she still was compassionate enough herself to try to help others.
I thought the pacing in this story was very cleverly done. In the present day, Sam is racing against time to find out what happened at the mother and baby home before it is knocked down and this gave a real sense of urgency to these chapters. By contrast, the chapters in the past seemed more slowly paced and gave a real sense of how long and hopeless the days were for Ivy in the home. The present day story was full of danger and tension particularly as you begin to realise just how the characters are connected. The story became a lot more sinister than I expected.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl in the Letter which is an excellent debut novel. As well as being entertaining, it is a book which made me think and was emotional to read at times too. It is full of strong characters, some of whom you will like but many of whom you will detest. Although this home and the characters are fictional, it is so poignant to know that for many women, the situations depicted were reality. I am looking forward to reading the author’s second novel, The Lost Child, later this year.
I love a story which moves between different time periods and where you begin to guess at the connections between the stories a little at a time. In this book, although I began to suspect the connections between the characters, I was taken by surprise so many times by the author. My heart just went out to Ivy and the situation she found herself in. She seemed to get absolutely no comfort or support from anyone and certainly not from any of the nuns who ran St Margaret’s House. (Please someone tell me that not all nuns were as awful as those we often read about in books set in mother and baby homes?). She was turned away and betrayed by so many people who should have loved her. And yet for all her misfortune, she still was compassionate enough herself to try to help others.
I thought the pacing in this story was very cleverly done. In the present day, Sam is racing against time to find out what happened at the mother and baby home before it is knocked down and this gave a real sense of urgency to these chapters. By contrast, the chapters in the past seemed more slowly paced and gave a real sense of how long and hopeless the days were for Ivy in the home. The present day story was full of danger and tension particularly as you begin to realise just how the characters are connected. The story became a lot more sinister than I expected.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl in the Letter which is an excellent debut novel. As well as being entertaining, it is a book which made me think and was emotional to read at times too. It is full of strong characters, some of whom you will like but many of whom you will detest. Although this home and the characters are fictional, it is so poignant to know that for many women, the situations depicted were reality. I am looking forward to reading the author’s second novel, The Lost Child, later this year.