The Last Letter from Your Lover

So I had just bought myself the new Jojo Moyes book and realised I still hadn't read “The Last Letter from Her Lover” so before reading the newest offering my meticulous nature drew me towards the earlier novel.

I have to admit to being a little lost with this novel because the story I was reading didn't seem to correlate with the one on the dust jacket which promised the tale of Jennifer in the 1960's alongside a modern day tale of Ellie but at 65% of the way through the book Ellie still hadn't made her entrance into the novel. Instead the story was very firmly a Mad Men-sequel tale of Jennifer a society wife who falls in love with a journalist and agrees to leave her mining magnate husband. It is a twisted tale of near misses and missed opportunities as Anthony and Jennifer long to be together.

It is an atmospheric book which oozes glamour and the opulence of the early 60's and the politics of the time, drawing on themes such as the early discoveries of the dangers of asbestos poisoning and political unrest in South Africa. It makes a great background for the book and for a torrid love affair. Much of the book is dedicated to the growing love between Jennifer and Anthony and their attempts to be together and the staid and rigid marriage between Jennifer and her husband Lawrence. In fact so much of the book has passed by the time the secondary character of Ellie is introduced that it really shifted the book significantly and changed the pace quite late on. Initially I was unsure but quickly we learn there are similarities between the women and are drawn into Ellie's world and we are keen to follow her search for the owners of Jennifer & Anthony's love letters.

This book had such a lovely story at the end but my only disappointment was I felt it might have benefited from an epilogue just to tie everything together. This is such a wonderful read and a very unique storyline which was greatly enjoyable and up to Moyes very high standard. can't wait to read the new novel now.

I really liked this book. I had watched the movie first and I also liked it, but not as much as I liked the book. I am so completely in love with Anthony O'Hare that I can't even begin to explain it.
I thought it was interesting to read about the life-altering love affair between Jennifer and Anthony and how it contrasted with the somewhat ugly affair between Ellie and John. I liked that it was only through Anthony's letters that Ellie realized she was missing out and what John could give her would never be enough.
The Last Letter from Your Lover will become one of my books to re-read and one of my movies to re-watch.

This book took forEVER to get going. The first half was pretty boring. But I stuck it out because I thought the story sounded really good (if we ever got to it), and I have liked JoJo Moyes' other historical fiction books. And it was worth it.. the second half was excellent.

I think the biggest issue with the first half was that it didn't switch back and forth between the past story and the present story like you expect from the blurb. So the present day story isn't introduced until (almost) the entire story from the past has been told. Then it switches back and forth. Ellie's (present) story could have been much more dynamic and complete if introduced earlier.

However, the story was very sweet, and I still really liked the plot line - a classic star-crossed lovers trope. But a trope is a trope for a reason, and I'm a sucker for a well done love story. This one was well done in theory... just not in pacing.