Letters from My Sister by Valerie Fraser Luesse ~A Review

by Susan Roberts

Two Sisters. One Single Event. A Family Changed Forever.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

August 2023; Revell; 978-0800742690
audio, ebook, print (352 pages); historical fiction

I really enjoy books about the relationship between sisters and this post-civil war coming-of-age story checks all the boxes to make it a fantastic look at life and family during this time period.

Emmy and Callie live a privileged life as the daughters of a successful cotton farmer in Alabama at the turn of the century.  Emmy is engaged to Knox and is looking forward to married life and motherhood.  Callie, on the other hand, is a bit of a rebel.  She isn't happy that women don't have the freedom of men.  She doesn't think that she'll ever fall in love and live the constrained life of a married woman during this time period.  When she meets Solomon, a new neighbor who is trying to farm what had been an abandoned farm, he treats her very differently than other men had.  He offers her the freedom to abandon social constraints and discover her truest self.  Emmy and Callie are very close to each other despite the differing ways that they view life.  Their well-maintained home gets turned upside down when Lily, the beautiful granddaughter of their housekeeper arrives and gains some unwanted attention from a neighbor.  When Lily disappears, Callie realizes that her sister has kept secrets from her.  When the sisters become separated due to illness, they regain their closeness through their letters and the sharing of the secrets of the past.  Will they become reconciled with each other again?  Will Callie find someone to marry who allows her to be the woman she wants to be?

This Southern family novel is a coming-of-age story for two sisters as the world is changing around them.  It's a story of family and love, romance, and hope for the future.

Buy Letters from My Sister at Amazon

 

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is two hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.  You can connect with her on Facebook.

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