The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn

4 stars

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions are my own and this did not affect my review in any way.

Historical fiction is not my favorite genre, so when I received a copy of this book for review I was a little bit nervous I wasn’t going to enjoy it. However, I realized that historical romance is definitely a genre I enjoy and I was very happy I gave this book a chance because I ended up really enjoying it.

The Forgotten Letter of Esther Durrant follows a dual timeline where a cache of unsent love letters from the 1950s is found in a suitcase on a remote island.

This book is an inspirational story of the sacrifices made for love. I was completely captivated by the story, the writing and the characters. The writing is atmospheric and it manages to make you feel like you are there, in the remote cold island alongside the characters. Kayte Nunn managed to create compelling characters that by the end you end up growing very attached to.

Like I said before, this story is told in dual timelines so I am going to talk about that. The first timeline, set in 1951 was my favorite, we get to meet all of these incredible people that have suffered a great deal and walk alongside them in their journey to recovery. The characters from 1951 are my favorites by far, they are broken people who are doing their best to get better and enjoy life again, it was very heartbreaking and heartwarming to read about. The second timeline, set in 2018 was also very enjoyable but I thought a certain kind of spark was missing from this perspective and that is why it wasn’t as enjoyable to read.

Now talking about the characters, one of the two main characters, Esther, was my favorite. She is such a strong woman who is trying to get over a traumatic event and I was able to deeply relate to her. She is kind, fierce ad very independent, she was an amazing main character to follow. The second main character Rachel was also great but it was a bit more difficult to relate to her because she was kind of an unlikeable character for me. I admire how independent and strong she is, but her need to always be by herself and refusing to let people in frustrated me a little bit. The secondary characters are amazing, we are able to really get to know them and they made the story overall more enjoyable and fun to read.

The forgotten letters of Esther Durrant is a beautiful story about love, loss and how we heal both our minds and our bodies. It was refreshing to read a historical novel not set in the context of war and I deeply enjoyed my reading experience of this book. I will for sure check out more books written by this author because I think they have the potential to write gorgeous and compelling stories that will both break and mend your heart.