Book Review: Twenty-Six Letters by Charlotte Nash

Twenty-Six Letters

by

Charlotte Nash

A bundle of secrets.

A mother she never knew.

A future she never dreamed. 

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 2nd August 2022

 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

 

Pages: 424

 

RRP: $32.99AU Paperback

 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher 

 

My review of Twenty-Six Letters

Twenty-Six Letters is a heartfelt mother/daughter relationship that plays out posthumously as Wilhelmina (Wil) gets to know her mother through letters she wrote before she died.

The story opens with a 30 year old Wil. She is a bit of a mess, partying too hard and unreliable. She always  seems to be in some sort of trouble and her father has had enough. He threatens to kick her out if she messes up one more time. Well you can guess what happens here.

I felt sorry for Will who had lost her mother at a young age and she felt that she didn't fit in with her family. But I could also understand her father's frustration.

When Wil comes into possession of the letters, which were supposed to be given to her one a year but somehow got misplaced, the story moves to her mother and her life growing up. 

I didn't really connect with the letters and how each year the mother presumed she would know how Wil felt and what she was going through. I really didn't like how the mother kept putting down Wil's father in the letters. This was the man that had brought her up since she was five and patiently put up with all her nonsense. It made me quite angry.

Wil follows her mother's letters back to a gorgeous little country town in England where her mother grew up. I loved this part of the story with the Lord of the area and all the country folk knowing exactly who was coming and going and what was happening. The ending was predictable, but I do love a happy ending!

 

my rating 3.5/5   ⭐⭐⭐½

 

About the author

 

Credit: Goodreads

 Charlotte Nash is the internationally published author of seven contemporary novels, most recently Saving You and On a Starlight Ocean. She has degrees in engineering and medicine and a PhD in creative writing, which used the neuroscience of reading to understand how cleverly-crafted technical fiction appeals to our narrative brains. As a firm believer in unlikely pairings, she is an engineer by day and writes smart, unusual love stories by night. She has taught writing through The University of Queensland, QUT, Queensland Writers Centre and the University of Technology Sydney.