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Violet Ackerman has drifted through a career, four children and a divorce without ever knowing who she is or what she wants. After moving to the coast, she starts receiving a series of mysterious letters sent from a mother and baby home in 1959, written by a pregnant twenty-year-old Elizabeth to her best friend. These letters intersperse Violet’s turbulent relationships with her lover, her infuriating son and the eccentric fellow members of the Village Committee. Who is sending Violet these letters, and why? What will happen to Elizabeth’s baby? ‘The Letters’ invites us see what happens when we don’t run away. Will love be enough to encourage Violet to stay?
“Satya’s poetry is exquisite; the words are almost palpable, ripe, warm and juicy like blackberries eaten as fast as they can be picked off the sun warmed brambles.
Much to my delight I found that her fiction has the same cadence…one which, to my mind, is reminiscent of Gregorian Monks chanting their prayers. …an indulgence from start to finish.” ~ DJ Kirkby
“An intensely written and unusual novel with a flawed, bristly and yet compelling female narrator. Violet’s grumpy voice and her gradual journey towards more fulfilling relationships with others was one of the things I liked best about this novel.” ~ Jenn Ashworth
I read this all in one go — I didn’t want to escape its clutches until I understood all its twists and mysteries. I felt the same way about Anita Shreve’s book, The Pilot’s Wife. But The Letters is funny and English and gently domestic as well as enticing.
“I first came across Satya through her small stones website, and the same poetic attention to detail is a joy throughout The Letters.” ~ Clare Grant