The Letters: A Novel

“At once humorous and heart-rending . . . The evocative style of Luanne Rice meshes splendidly with Joseph Monninger’s in a moving collaboration [that] brilliantly illuminates the precious value of relationships.”—Wichita Falls Times Record News
 
“For those who love and those who hope to love again.”—Lincoln Journal Star
 
Sam and Hadley West are both trying to survive a shared, unthinkable loss. For Sam, a sports journalist, acceptance means an arduous trek by dogsled across the Alaskan wilderness. For Hadley, it means renting a benignly haunted, salt-soaked cottage off the Maine coast, where she begins to paint again. Waiting for their divorce to be finalized, they begin to exchange letters, filled with longing and truths they’ve never before voiced, as they recall their marriage—its magic moments and its challenges—and rediscover the reason they fell in love in the first place.
 
In this remarkable collaboration, acclaimed writers Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger combine their unique talents to create, through a series of searching, intimate letters, a powerful novel of an estranged husband and wife—and the moment that changed the course of their lives forever.
 
“It’s hard for the reader to remember that she is reading fiction and not eavesdropping on personal correspondence. . . . A journey of discovery that celebrates the beauty of letter writing, an art fast disappearing.”—Booklist
 
“Exquisite . . . a story of hope, healing and possibilities.”—Concord Monitor

Luanne Rice is the author of The Silver Boat, Secrets of Paris, The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners, The Geometry of Sisters, Last Kiss, Light of the Moon, What Matters Most, The Edge of Winter, Sandcastles, Summer of Roses, Summer’s Child, Silver Bells, Beach Girls, and many other New York Times bestsellers. She lives in New York City and Southern California.
 
Joseph Monninger is the acclaimed author of several works of nonfiction and fiction for teens and adults, including The World as We Know It, and has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. A native of New Jersey and one-time Peace Corps volunteer, he is a college professor in New Hampshire where he lives in a converted barn with his wife, Wendy.