The Last Letter (Paperback or Softback)

“Compelling, evocative, shocking and true, The Last Letter is a wonderful debut from Bethan Marshall.”
Michael Bracewell
British writer and novelist

“The Last Letter is a fascinating historical novel . . . A delightful read!”
Rebecca Pippert
Author and international speaker


The early 1900s was a time of change and chaos in Ireland—a time when the suffragist movement was stirring up women to fight for their rights and when the Protestants and Catholics were set against each other.
When Fred, a Protestant, falls in love with Niamh, a devout Catholic, he finds himself exiled to America. Determined to find a place where everyone is accepted and Protestants and Catholics can marry, Fred works to save money for Niamh’s own passage to America to join him.
While Niamh waits for the day she can afford to join her love, she joins the suffragists, and the one thing that keeps her holding onto hope are the letters she receives from Fred through his sister, Hilda.
Based on the true love letters the author found in her family’s belongings, this twentieth century Romeo and Juliet will have you rooting for an unlikely marriage and longing to read one more letter.

Bethan Marshall is a Senior Lecturer at King’s College London and is published extensively both journalistically and academically. She has been a columnist for The Independent and The Times Education Supplement, as well as having books published by Bloomsbury, Routledge, and the OUP. She has edited three books, including two prize-nominees, and has published over sixty peer-refereed articles and twenty book chapters. The Last Letter is her first attempt at fiction.