After the death of her mother, Kate, the main character finds that her mother has saved thousands of letters. Among those, she finds her own letters and she reminisces about the great love of her life.

The setting for the love story is Seattle during the second half of the 1950s. Kate is bright college student who is totally ignorant about sex. David is a professor who is trapped in a loveless marriage. What happens to these two people is up to the reader to find out.

As for me, I am not too crazy about professor-student, May-September romances, but this book is so well-written and so true to life that it made me forget my bias.

The frame-work of the novel is clever and works wonderfully for the plot and the characters. I didn't care too much for who the characters were and their values, but they were true-to-life, and at times, I wondered if this could be an autobiography. This feeling is of course due to the author's skill with the characters and her elegance with the use of the language.

The sailing scenes were exciting and made me believe that the author knew a lot about sailing, which was a bonus. The book throughout its pacing reminded me of the works written in the first half of the twentieth century, rather than today's fast moving novels.

In short, this is a masterfully written novel, but more for those readers like me who may remember the world as it used to be during the late nineteen-fifties.

the sailing scenes

the length of the novel and the details not pertaining to the main story.

is Rebecca Heath.

it is well written, but it may be a boring story for younger readers. Read at your own risk.

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Created Jun 13, 2014 at 9:01pm • Submit your own review...