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.