I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would really rate this book 3.5 stars. It was off to a strong start, but it got unnecessarily graphic near the end. I also felt like the ending was rushed and one of the side storylines just felt incomplete.

The book opens on 1951 with Esther’s husband John telling her they are going on holiday. In reality, he takes her to a remote island and leaves her at a mental asylum for what appears to be symptoms of depression. 67 years later in 2018, Rachel is a research assistant who is assigned to St. Mary’s island to study Warty Venus crabs. Meanwhile Eve is living with her Ex-mountain climbing 90 year old grandmother who suffered a broken hip.
The story is told from the three points of view. I liked characters and I liked the flow. I thought it would focus more on the letters themselves, but they had a smaller part then I expected. Yes they were a catalyst, but they were small in content. I would have liked Esther and R’s love story developed a bit more it felt very sparse to me based on the letters and the title. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, it was just a case where my expectations didn’t meet the reality. But once I let those go, it was a good story, well written that propelled me along nicely.

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

A wonderfully written book with a dual timeline. It is set in the Archipelago of Scilly Island in the UK,

Once I started this book I was pulled into all of it's emotion. A book of finding love, healing, healing and trust.

While the different POV’s were a little confusing at first, this story is told between three different women. The story will captivate you and tug on all the heartstrings.

A suitcase full of unsent love letters is found on Pittwater Island , off the Cornish coast, by Rachel Parker. She is determined to find out who was the recipient. She contacts Eve, who is helping her grandmother write her memoirs, dominos start to fall and secrets that were hidden are uncovered. This is a beautiful combination of historical fiction and modern times. A pleasure to escape into the lives of those in the past.

A lovely dual timeline novel that made me want to read more by this author. Wonderful characters, interesting plot and great atmospheric detail.

This novel takes place on the Scilly Islands off of Cornwall, a setting that at times appears bleak, at other times inviting. Esther’s husband knows she is distraught after losing her second child, and brings her to be treated by a doctor who is an old friend of his. It was the 1950’s, and Esther cannot go against her husband’s wishes. Rachel is a marine biologist, taking on an assignment in 2018 to study pollution level effects on clams. The two stories will intersect, while the main characters have to make some difficult decisions. I enjoyed the author’s style and recommend this book. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

First of all getting to "visit" the remote Scilly Isles in this book was a treat in itself. Then following the trail of these beautifully written love letters provided a comforting reading experience. The positive power of the doctor in the mental institution was such a nice twist, providing the help that was needed.

Thanks to #netgalley, and #HarperCollins and #WilliamMorrow for the opportunity to read and review this lovely story #TheForgottenLettersofEstherDurrant
This story is set in two eras, It's 1951 and Esther is suffering from depression and her husband takes her to an isolated island and leaves her (against her will) under the care of a psychiatrist who runs a clinic for shell shocked soldiers.
Fast forward to 2018 and we find Rachel, a research scientist leaving the south Pacific for a new position on the isolated islands off the coast of England. She never stays in one place for long, she isn't the type to open her heart to anyone. She's happy recording observations of sea life.
The 2 stories subtly intertwine when Rachel finds letters that were never sent. I enjoyed this book and definitely recommend.

Such a sweet story!

A marine researcher finds herself in the remote British Isles, stranded with an isolated woman after a boating accident. She discovers the most beautiful love letters she's ever read, and is mystified by why they have never been sent.

The marine researcher's timeline is juxtaposed with a woman in the early 1950s who has not felt like herself, and has been sent to a remote care home by her husband. We are also treated to a second modern-day story line, featuring a fierce 90 year old outdoorswoman recovering from an injury.

This felt a little predictable at times, but did not disappoint! Great for a mini-vacation to the far western British islands, especially when quarantined!

“You suffered an enormous loss, labored under a burden of blame that was not yours to carry, but in spite of all that you made a triumph of your life. You have lived with boldness, with courage. I wish we could all say the same about ourselves."

I picked up this book because I was promised something like City of Girls. It didn't quite achieve that status for me, but it was an enjoyable read.

The strongest part of this novel for me were the sections set in 1951. Esther's story is both tragic, astounding, and beautifully romantic. It's almost unimaginable to think of a man involuntarily committing his wife to an insane asylum, but we know that these things did happen. This story helped to contextualize that in a very real way, and I thought it was handled quite well. I was intrigued in Esther's story from beginning to end.

The weakness in this book came from discrepancies between this section and the two sections set in present day. Eve & her grandmother's story was honestly quite boring, and I enjoyed Rachel's story but found it lacking in a few details and it especially had a deeply unsatisfying ending that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. We did not get the resolution I felt we deserved for her story.

I loved this dual timeline that dealt with past choices, love, and how we continue on and deal with our choices. A beautiful book that filled me with nostalgia and had just the right amount of mystery and intrigue to keep me reading long into the night.

You can read the description of the book, and you can read some or all of the reviews if you wish, but you never really know how a book is going to affect you until you turn the first page and keep on reading. This one grabbed my attention with the first page and never let go. What a great author, she has a wonderful writing technique, even switching back and forth between the characters was almost seamless. The story takes you between three woman, Esther, Eve and Rachel going from 1951 to 2018.
This is the first book I have read by Kayte Nunn, but I will certainly be looking into more of her works. This type of writing is reminiscent of Pat Conroy to me, whom is one of my favorite authors. She has a story to tell, and she tells it with style, great fluency, beautiful descriptions of the players, the landscape and also includes wonderful character development. I could picture ride on the train, the Embers, see Rachel in the dingy during the storm, Robbie, John, Jonah and Richard, but it is the way this book makes you feel that is the highest point of all.
When someone asks me, what makes a great book, my immediate answer is “how the book makes me feel”. Hands up with applause, this is one of the great books!!!
I was allowed an ARC from Harper Collins Publishers and NetGalley for my honest unbiased review. This one gets the highest 5 stars I can give.

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is an epic, detailed novel relating a singular story set in two different times through the eyes of three unique characters. In 1951, college graduate Esther has been living as a middle-class housewife and mother when a vacation with her husband turns out to be a lure which deposits her in an isolated mental asylum/respite house led by a pioneering psychiatrist. Initially, she is deeply resentful regarding what has happened to her, but time has her falling in love with her beautiful island prison and one of its denizens. In 2018, marine biologist Rachel Parker is studying the effect of climate change on clams in the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast. Forced to seek shelter on one of the remote islands during a storm, she discovers a collection of hidden love letters and. moved by what she reads, determines to track down the intended recipient. Eve is taking care of her grandmother, who is convalescing at home from a broken hip, when Rachel contacts her regarding the letters. The two young women, looking for answers, set in motion a chain of events which threaten to bring decades old secrets to life.

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is a tale of love and loss, family, and the complicated dance of human connectivity and societal expectations.

AAR staffers Shannon and Maggie are here to share their thoughts on this complex novel.

Maggie: I’m a big fan of dual timeline novels and stories revolving around old letters/diaries, so I was immediately drawn to this book. What drew you to review The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant?

Shannon: Like you, I love dual timeline novels, and I’m always on the lookout for stories that center around places and periods in history I’m not super familiar with. This particular book checked both those boxes for me, so I was really excited to give it a try.

Maggie: This is the fourth book Ms. Nunn has written but I have not read any of her others. Do you have any experience with her?

Shannon: This was my first experience with her work, but I plan on remedying that soon. I enjoyed many things about The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant so I’m curious to see what else she’s written.

Maggie: The setting here, of the Isles of Scilly, was new to me but I found myself drawn to the sparse, harsh location. The author communicated very well the rough, wild beauty of the place and managed to make the isolation of the region a selling point.

Shannon: I love when the setting of a story seems to come alive through the author’s words, and that’s exactly what happened here. I’ve never read anything set in the Scilly Islands before, but there was something so powerful about the way the author was able to bring their stark beauty to life on the page that drew me in pretty much from the beginning of the book. The sense of isolation certain characters felt was almost palpable, as was the love others had for the region.

Maggie: The story is told in third person, focusing on three particular viewpoints. The first of them we meet is Esther, who is presented to us as tired and apathetic. We learn she has suffered a deep loss and is at Little Embers House, the respite home/hospital, to hopefully make a recovery. I didn’t feel I ever got a good handle on Esther; I was told certain things about her, but I was never shown much of her character.

Shannon: Isn’t it amazing how we can read the same book but come away with completely opposite impressions of certain characters? I actually felt I knew Esther quite well. Some things were revealed more slowly than others, but I empathized with her obvious grief and her confusion once she understood that her husband had tricked her into getting treatment. As the story progressed, I learned more about who she was as a person, and I found myself quite invested in her fate.

Maggie: The second pivotal personage we meet is Rachel. I had a much stronger sense of her, perhaps because hers was such a forceful personality. She is very much in love with what she does, and I received a strong sense of purpose from her. I was also pleased with how self-aware she was – she understood that her inability to put down roots had something to do with moving around as a child and her own nature and accepted that about herself. What did you think of her?

Shannon: Rachel is definitely a more forceful character than Esther, but she has her own set of issues and vulnerabilities. She definitely loves her work, but she also uses it to keep people at arm’s length. She was a hard character to get to know in some ways, since she tried so hard to keep the focus strictly on her professional life. Still, I found her to be a relatable heroine, especially once she begins digging into Esther’s past.

Maggie: Eve seemed little more than a placeholder to me, meant to convey the story of her Gran.

Shannon: I completely agree about Eve’s role in the novel. We don’t learn much about her at all, aside from the fact that she loves her Gran and is hoping she’ll make a full recovery. I would have liked to see a bit more of who she is in her own right.

Maggie: I found the medical aspects of the novel deeply disturbing, most especially the idea that a bit of talk, rest and exercise can heal you. People who are seriously mentally ill with depression need a good deal more than that in order to resume their former lives. I also found the doctor’s behavior deeply unethical. What were your thoughts on this aspect of the novel?

Shannon: There’s so much about the history of mental health treatment that really disturbs me, and sadly, the types of treatment described here felt accurate (for the time) if not effective. People honestly believed rest, exercise, and fresh air could cure all sorts of illnesses. It’s sad to think of how many people were denied treatment for their mental health conditions because of society’s beliefs about the proper way to help them. As for the doctor and his ethics, I think he chose his profession for all the wrong reasons. He wanted to right the wrongs in his own past and this caused him to treat his patients in ways that were clearly not in their best interest. There’s more I could say about this aspect of the story, but that would veer dangerously close to spoiler territory.

Maggie: There are two romances here, a budding relationship between Rachel and Jonah and another between Esther and the mysterious R. I liked the modern-day portion and felt that Rachel and Jonah were making a genuine connection. I didn’t enjoy the historical romance at all. Did you like either of the romances?

Shannon: Rachel and Jonah were wonderful together, but the historical pairing didn’t work nearly as well for me. I understood how Esther could develop feelings for R, but the relationship wasn’t at all sustainable. With Rachel and Jonah, things were left on a hopeful note, giving readers the impression they were on the verge of allowing their relationship to deepen into something stronger than friendship, and I loved watching Rachel work out her feelings for Jonah even though she had avoided personal connection for most of her life.

Maggie: My overall response to the story is that it was fine but not stellar. For me it is a B- . What grade would you give it?

Shannon: I’m going a bit above you and giving it a solid B. It’s a book that has flaws, both in characterization and overall execution, but I found myself utterly engrossed in the story. The setting had a great deal to do with that as did my connection to Esther’s character. It’s a difficult read to be sure, but one I’m glad I made time for.

What a lovely, beautiful book! I definitely have a book hangover now, as I did not want this one to end. It is beautifully and cleverly written, the character development is outstanding, and the descriptions of the locations in the novel are exquisite. I highly recommend this title, and now I will search for the author’s other books. Don’t miss out on this gem!

Where do you begin on this one? It's kind of complicated you have two women one in the past one in the present! Don't give up,it will make sense! It has you going top different places,islands,with historical settings. You have a women who is really depressed ,but you watch her progress as she gets on the road to recovery, You have love,you have mystery on how do these two women come together with what their common interest is! So many emotions you can very well feel!! Enjoy this,I know you will!!

What a simply beautiful story. Whilst it was predictable it was warm and friendly. You go between two different eras and two strong women. It's captivating and hard to put down. Well done Kayte Nunn! I look forward to more from you.

Good addition to this genre . It had a good plot and believable characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Very good book for a cold winter's day. Not at all surprised by the ending. What i love about historical fiction is the places they take you to that never knew about. i especially loved the characters and will be recommending this book.

I really wanted to like this book. But there were too many story lines and it was hard to follow. Stick with two people.