Letters to My Yesterday

I always enjoy a novel that is inspired by an author’s own family history. It adds a layer of magic that makes the moments within the pages all the more poignant.

‘Rose Robson was my great-grandmother and did indeed build a house and shop at 33 Maher Street, Hurstville. Although I've taken creative licence, there are many precious memories belonging to my family intertwined throughout this story.’ Author note.

The novel opens with Rose, a widow with two young children running a general store on her own in Sydney during the 1930s. Rose is a woman who has carved her own path and I admired her greatly. I would have loved a bit more of Rose throughout the entire novel to be honest, because she becomes secondary to Marie and is mostly present in Marie’s memories rather than in sections of her own. Later in the novel, we begin to get these letters to my yesterday sprinkled throughout, and these are from Rose, but even still, I just felt like I hadn’t gotten enough of her all round. She was so inspirational and resourceful, a story within the story, I felt. I really loved this scene with Rose and her children at the beginning of the novel, it really highlights the special person she was:

‘“If these walls could talk,” Rose whispered and she held them closer still.
“What would they say Mum?” Lucas asked, his eyes wide, ready to hear the secret of the whispers his mum always talked about.
“They'd say this is an extraordinary house. It's ordinary, yet amazing in so many ways. So it's extra-ordinary.”
“But why? What happened here?” Lucas was very disappointed the ghosts he'd imagined whispering in the walls of his house didn't have anything more interesting to say.
It's not so much what's happened here, it's more than that. It's who’s been here, what's been spoken about, what's been hoped for, what's been fulfilled. But even more than that, my darlings, it's about what's yet to happen here.”
“Well, what's that then?” Lucas tried one more time, crossing his fingers and hoping it was something spooky.
“Anything. Anything could happen here. And that is what is so extraordinary about our house. Anything is possible at thirty-three Maher Street.”’

And this really sets the scene for the rest of the novel too, the idea that anything is possible at thirty-three Maher Street.

In the present day, Marie is living in the house and the general store is now a café. Marie is very much like her mother in the sense that she has created this welcoming and memorable space and regularly touches the lives of others through her kindness. She’s quite old though, and not in good health. While she’s determined to not let this stop her from continuing to do what she has always done, inevitably, there comes a point when she no longer can sustain the myth that she is well and fine. Maire befriends two women, Dee, who is a regular customer, and Isla, who is new to the café but used to visit the general store when she was a child. Isla is working with Dee on the marketing campaign for Dee’s new inclusive program, and through Marie, these two women connect on another level and form a firm friendship. It’s a lovely scenario that unfolds, Marie matchmaking friendships until her last days. At times the narrative was light and even glossy, not offering as much depth as I might have liked, but then at others, moments dug very deep and there would be a breathtaking disclosure that would just stay with you and have you contemplating life and love in equal measure. Memories from the past were offered for each of the women at key moments and I think this worked really well in terms of character development.

This novel is very much about connectivity between people, the relationships we form and the way we move through our daily life inhabiting them. It’s about viewing the ordinary as extraordinary, and this is summed up so well by Rose in one of her letters to yesterday:

‘When my children were young I would explain the word ‘extraordinary’ to them from time to time, because that is what I felt our life was. Ordinary from the outside, but when examined closer and you see all those extras, it becomes extraordinary. Now I realise every life is the same; full of extras.’

Isn’t this a wonderful notion? Ordinary full of extras. I just love this. Letters to My Yesterday is a quiet novel, one to curl up with and get lost in. It didn’t take me long to read, but it was lovely and warm hearted, with some great scenes. My favourite of all was ‘Smithy’ the pilot dropping into the general store. This is one of those great moments of serendipity that show how far a kindness to a stranger can sometimes extend.

‘Hope that no matter the circumstances, life will continue and anything is possible.’

I highly recommend Letters to My Yesterday. It has all the feels and the letters to yesterday written by Rose that were included are a poignant reminder about the important things in life. Tapping into contemporary themes on tolerance, exploring issues of guilt and grief, along with all of the wonderful human connectivity throughout, this is a novel that will appeal to a wide audience.


Thanks is extended to Ventura Press via Netgalley for providing me with a copy of Letters to My Yesterday for review.

It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel at all. The book description grabbed my interest, and then each time I picked it up, it was like greeting an old friend, the way I just fell into the story again. Letters to My Yesterday is described as a "moving and tender portrayal of female strength, hardship and friendship" but it's so much more than than.

It's an extraordinary story that spans generations of strong women and the lives that they touch. It is the story of the Australian spirit, the grit, the determination and the strength that people have when they need it. And yet, it is a story about the ordinary too. About a corner store, that became a small general store then a cafe. As an Australian, it talks about scenes that I can picture all too well, places I've visited, schools that I know, drinks that I order, and attitudes of people that are all too realistic. It's lovely to fall into a book where I could get lost in the familiar world described.

I felt like there was something I could relate to in all the strong ladies depicted in this book. It covers a wide spectrum of contemporary issues, from grief and guilt, to tolerance and tenacity, and the strength of friendships. I found myself nodding along and cheering for them all. I'm reminded a little of the final lines of Nature Boy, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, Is just to love and be loved in return"

One theme that particularly stood out was how the women in this story were each other's biggest cheerleaders and built each other up, wanting them to win over their own personal demons. I love that, because it's something that doesn't always happen as much as it should.

One of the letters to yesterday in the book had a wonderful notion written by Rose:

‘When my children were young I would explain the word ‘extraordinary’ to them from time to time, because that is what I felt our life was. Ordinary from the outside, but when examined closer and you see all those extras, it becomes extraordinary. Now I realise every life is the same; full of extras.’

I think that sums up this book beautifully - ordinary from the outside, but when examined closer, it's full of wonderful extras which make it extraordinary.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book to review.

This is a really beautiful story about family, love, loss and how the lives of strangers can become connected in a meaningful way. It is about the strength of the women: Rose, Marie, Dee and Isla. I loved the author's distinct voice and the structure of the novel moving between the past and the present and the Letters by Rose to her Yesterday. A fantastic debut.

‘Anything. Anything could happen here.’

Four women, four very different lives. Each woman is much stronger than she knows. We meet the first of these women, Rose, in the 1920s. Rose has been widowed and builds a house and shop in inner Sydney. Rose runs the shop on her own and raises her two children Marie and Lucas. Rose believes in the future, which she sees as being full of possibility for her children. This is what Rose works so hard for.

‘Dear Yesterday, I’m not sure how I got here. I can’t think of the moment my life became tomorrow and my past a yesterday.’

In the present, Marie is now ninety-two. She runs a café in the shop her mother built, a café that is a welcoming refuge for many. Marie is growing old, and frail, but she still does some of the cooking.

Dee is the principal of a local public school, and a regular at Marie’s café. She’s been working hard to launch an inter-faith curriculum into the school. Isla is working with Dee on the marketing strategy for the curriculum, and Dee invites Isla to Marie’s café for coffee. And so begins a wonderful friendship between three women. Marie has health issues and is coming towards the end of her life, but she’s still very much a part of life in the present. In every encounter Marie has with Dee and Isla, I can hear Rose: ‘Anything is possible at thirty-three Maher Street’.

All three of the women have faced (and are facing) challenges. As the novel unfolds, we learn more about those challenges. The women listen to and support each other. The future, for Dee and Isla, may be different from what they’d originally planned but I finished the novel confident that they had the courage to keep moving forward.

What can I say about this novel? I read it in one day. I loved it. While most of the novel is in the present and is about Marie, Isla and Dee, Rose’s spirit was everywhere. So many issues are touched on, including friendship, grief and loss. There’s a beautiful message about focussing on similarities rather than differences, but a recognition that we have some way to go before that message is universally accepted.

I finished the novel, and then read the author’s note. Ms Sepulveda wrote:
‘Rose Robson was my great-grandmother and did indeed build a house and shop at 33 Maher Street, Hurstville. Although I've taken creative licence, there are many precious memories belonging to my family intertwined throughout this story.’

And this note made this accomplished debut novel perfect. I’d have loved to have met Rose.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Ventura Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

It had been a while since I had read a Lovely Book, but after a run of fairly dark thrillers, this was just what I needed - a thought-provoking but heart-warming tale of friendship, and snapshots of the lives of four very different women, over nearly a century, set in Sydney, Australia. They write letters, to their younger selves, to try and learn lessons from their experiences. It was particularly impressive as this is a first novel.

Beginning in 1928 with Rose, a young widow who opens a grocery shop on the grounds of her house, to support her two young children, which sees them through the Depression, this jumps to the present where her daughter, Marie, a sprightly 92, is still running a popular cafe on the same site. Every morning, Dee, a school principal, pops in for her coffee before work. We are taken back to her childhood as an immigrant from Lebanon, while in the present she is working on a proposal to introduce multi-faith ethics teaching to her school, to show children the similarities between religions. Finally Isla, a younger woman charged with the marketing of the proposal, has been living a shadow life since a personal tragedy years earlier. Marie, Dee and Isla begin a friendship which surprises them all, as their lives change irrevocably.

There were some heavy themes here - immigration and racism, so topical right now, grief and recovery from loss, women’s roles at work, dealing with teenagers... but this was an easy enjoyable read with some great characters.
The story flits between time periods, but it’s never hard to follow. The author explains at the end that Rose was her ancestor and while the story is fiction, elements are taken from her own family history. There are sad bits - I nearly cried, which would’ve been embarrassing as I read it on the plane - ironically flying to Australia - but the message is one of hope, tolerance and love, but importantly, love for family and friends, rather than romantic love being touted as the solution to all.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a voluntary honest review. Letters to my Yesterday is available now.

A beautiful book, set in Australia, both in the present and in the past. It's a perfect balance of stories and current issues, keeping the reader entertained and thinking at the same time.

It's an easy, enjoyable read.

This book is about the power of our childhoods, to affect our adulthoods. We can’t change what has already happened, but we can choose how it affects our present, & our future.
The story follows three women as they write letters to their yesterdays - with the wisdom of hindsight, & lessons learned. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they find they have much in common.
“It’s all about seeing that people are the same, when it comes down to it.”
(people need to) “open their minds & get that we’re human first”.
“We are all different....but what is often forgotten is that we are also very much the same.”
“Every experience has a purpose.”
Everybody has a story to tell. Everyone is “extraordinary”.....

What a lovely book! Sensitive and handled with such empathy. A moving portrayal of women's strength and how we gain from friendship with one another.

I loved the message this book delivered about strong women and how different ages and cultures and lifestyles can come together. This is a feel good book