Thank you to Netgalley, the Publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion and review.

What a beautiful, haunting story of love and family in the 1940s wartime. Martha's father, Lewis, has passed and he was in the midst of writing his memoirs, she ends up following his plans made before his death to go to Europe where he said he had to go to finish his memoirs; only Martha doesn't know why, as it turns out her and her sister know almost nothing of their father's childhood until the age that he met and fell in love with their mother. Martha isn't sure how to go about finding out what to look for but soon gets a message from her sister about a locked file on their father's computer named "Catkins", her and her sister assume that this must be a lost love and with a heavy heart she sets about trying to solve the mystery about what secrets their father kept all his life.

This book is told in dual storylines from current day with Martha and in the past with Sylvie, Lewis's mother. I read this book quickly and couldn't wait to get to the ending but yet, I didn't want it to end. I was pleasantly surprised with the tone of this book and I loved it, the story went in the direction that I didn't see coming a few times and was a very satisfying story with a beautiful and hopeful ending.

I will definitely be reading more books by this author.

If the cover of this book doesn't get your attention, just pick it up and read it anyway, um you will not be disappointed.
Dual time-line books either are amazing or an epic fail. Prepare to be transported and amazed. The book does a great job of telling the secrets and sacrifices of the characters. I really liked the way the story builds and unfolds perfectly. Do not hesitate! READ THIS BOOK!
Thanks you netgalley and the publisher for supplying a complimentary arc of this book. The opinions are my own

One of my very favorite reading pleasures is to be simply surprised by a book...this is a perfect example. I had no inkling that this fairly nondescript (though lovely) cover hid a wonderful gem of a story. And may I just say on a side note that the cover is just spot-on to convey the story as a picture! How often do we get that in a cover?!

My big takeaway here was female friendships, but there’s also bittersweet first love, maternal devotion, triumph and tragedy (yes, there will be tears), all taking place with the backdrop of WW2 England. The writing is rich in both detail and content and was a joy to read. This one will linger with me for quite awhile. Highly recommend.

Big thanks to #NetGalley and #Bookouture for the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

During the present day in Canada, Martha's father has died, and she and her sister discovered that he had intended to travel to England, after not having set foot there in over seventy years. There is a stack of curious letters and proof that he booked a hotel and rented a beach hut there. Also, Martha's daughter Janey is attending school in England. For those two reasons, Martha finds herself on a plane. Between her curiosity about her father and the fact that her relationship with her daughter is quite difficult, these travel plans are a must. It does not take Martha long to begin to piece together her father's past, and she learns so much about the war through these facts. However, it does take quite some time to settle the rift between herself and her daughter.

In 1940s Norfolk, England, Sylvie's husband has gone to war, leaving her with two children to raise alone. She has just discovered that she was willed a beach house near her parents' home and develop a strong friendship with Connie, a woman she met on the beach. Secrets are shared, and lives are forever changed.

The Lost Letters had a bit of a slow start for me. But with the plan that Sylvie and Connie set in motion seeming quite risky, and the history of how war affected the lives of the innocent, well, it was quite touching. Martha's putting these pieces together drew me right into the story. The mystery and questions that I as a reader needed answers to were handled quite satisfactorily by the conclusion of this engaging story. A fabulous start for a debut author.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Sarah Mitchell's début novel The Lost Letters has to have one of the most gorgeous covers that I have seen this year, the letters and the beach hut in the background form pivotal parts to the story but all does not become clear until the very end. I'll be straight up and say that I did find this book difficult to get into as the beginning is very slow and you question where the book is going as the story does wander off on several tangents. You are attempting to connect all these strands but it is too early to do so. I have seen a few other people mention this so I know I wasn't the only reader that felt this was the case but once I reached the halfway point the story took a turn and it became a very good read. I was glad I had stuck with it.

So even though the first half is slow, the pay off is more than worth it as all that setting up and development of the story begins to come to fruition. The sense of mystery and uncovering of the past begins to come through and as Martha starts to become excited and engaged in the task she was sent to Norfolk to do the readers excitement grows too. Things begin to make a lot more sense and I desperately hoped as with most historical fiction dual timeline books that there would be a big reveal or twist that would leave the reader gasping in shock. A sentence or two which would change my opinions of characters and my outlook of the entire book. Thankfully there was and that's what made me enjoy the book more so for the second half rather than the opening.

Martha Rodwell is travelling from her home in Canada to England. She is hoping to kill two birds with one stone – perhaps a visit to her daughter who is studying in London, although there are tensions in their relationship, but also to solve the mystery that has recently come to light with the death of Lewis, her father. Lewis had been writing his memoirs when he passed away and there is still a section to be written, the first twenty years of his life are missing. Before he died he was planning on spending a month in a coastal town in Norfolk, he had not been back to the country of his birth for over seventy years. So what drew him back now?

Martha would readily admit that she is not the most adventurous of people but having been divorced from husband Clem for several years and knowing he has moved on, she knows now is the time she needs to get out there for herself and live a little or she will have too many regrets. As much as this book was about finding the answers to the mystery surrounding a bunch of letters left behind by Lewis addressed to a Catkins, this was Martha's journey too. She took brave steps in taking on the task but would the steps be beneficial and she will see a whole new side to life or will it just cause more harm in her relationship with Janey? Will she find a happy ever after she never relaised she too was searching for?

Once Martha arrived in England and settled into the hotel where she was staying and explored the surrounding area not much really happened. Seeking the answers, following the trail, making connections and that fervour and determination that comes with reconciling the past with the present didn't come until much later in the book. I felt it took too long for Martha to get going as a character and become the lead in the quest until events forced her to. But when the story picked up pace, I felt that was where she came into her own and we saw a different side to her character. She wasn't as meek and timid and as the wool fell from her eyes and some startling revelations began to make themselves apparent my excitement grew as to what the big family secret could have been. It was shocking and surprising but showed what families went through during the war. What sacrifices they made for those they loved. It showed how friendships can endure for so long and the bonds that tie these friendships together in the first place are there for a reason. To see people through thick and thin.

I think I preferred the chapters of the book as told from the viewpoint of Sylvia. I have always had a keen interest in the past and I do think the author did a very good job of recreating the lives of people during World War Two. Sylvia did not have the best of relationships with her husband Howard and in some way she is glad that he is away fighting because she can just breathe and be herself. No more fear of doing the wrong thing or of simmering tensions. It seemed she was trapped in a relationship that she did not want to be in. She counts herself lucky that she has two children that she can love and cherish - Lewis and Esther. It's when she's staying with her parents in Norfolk, and discovers an Aunt left her a beach hut, that she meets Connie and her brother Charlie. They are in Norfolk on holiday but as Sylvia does something which Connie will never forget and will always be thankfully for, a friendship is formed that will never be broken and will see them through the most testing of times. I enjoyed getting to delve deeper into Sylvia's character and as the war progressed little titbits were dropped in every now and again that give teasers as to what was going on.

The reader had to read an awful lot between the lines as to what everything was building up to and to be honest I hadn't a clue as to what direction it was going in but as previously mentioned it did built up to a satisfying conclusion demonstrating the power of love combined with pain, sacrifice and above all else hope. Connie seemed to disappear for a lot of Sylvia's section of the book and then a brief mention would occur. I questioned why she was brought into the story at all as there had been quite a bit of attention devoted to their meeting on the beach? But I suppose their lives during the war drew them in different directions and a letter every now and then would have sufficed as communication.

The Lost Letters is a promising start from Sarah Mitchell. I sense there is even greater things to come from her in the future. Maybe having Martha searching earlier, delving back into the past from the beginning rather than detailing her days in Norfolk before she finally got a spurt under would have been more benficial. The urgency of finding the answers didn't appear until the second half and if this feeling had been present earlier on I think I would have been gripped the entire way through. The dominant questions that pervaded this story was – who is Catkins? What connection had she to Lewis? Why was he returning to England after so many years away? I think I wanted Catkins to turn out to be a certain person almost like a cliché that I have read in similar novels so it was refreshing that the author put a different slant on things. There was a surprising ending but it did make sense of all that had been explored in the story. The Lost Letters although not the strongest book I have read this year is certainly worth a read.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. The Lost Letters is a dual time line novel that mainly takes place in 1940s London and Norfolk in the 1940s and modern-day.
Martha has arrived in Norfolk to try to find out more about her recently deceased father. She is a lonely figure, missing her father, divorced with a daughter who is at university in Cambridge and who has no time to talk to her and a sister who she has a slightly strange relationship with.
Sylvie in the 1940s has a different lifestyle in some ways. She has wonderful friends in Connie and Elsie but her marriage is a lonely one at times and a relationship from when she was younger causes problems for her. I loved seeing her friendship with both Connie and Elsie grow into something special.
It is a slightly slow novel to begin with, not a bad thing, these characters take a while to get to know. Usually in a dual time line novel I prefer one to the other but here I liked both equally. The 1940s felt like the author had personal knowledge, from family stories passed down, or had done a lot of research into local history. I felt that one part in particular, from early on in the war was a true event.
I became more intrigued in the modern-day story as the novel progressed and the knowledge about what happened increased. The final quarter of the novel was at times emotional to read. I can’t imagine what families went through, having to say goodbye and not knowing what the future may bring. I knew about children being evacuated but had no idea that they went so far away from home.
A lovely emotional novel from an author I would happily read again.

I really enjoyed this story and how it developed as the book progressed.

I think that the cover is gorgeous too. I really liked the characters in the story and their interaction was very well written and it is that aspect that really brought the story to life for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way that the book was presented with the different time lines, it had me completely hooked as I really wanted to know how it would all end.

Four stars from me, a very beautiful story, well written and very enjoyable, definitely one I am going to be recommending, – highly recommended!

I do love a dual timeline story, especially when one of the stories is set during the Second World War, so The Lost Letters had immediate appeal for me.

The two timelines are that of Martha in the present day and that of Sylvie in 1940s Norfolk. Martha's father has just passed away before completing his memoirs and she finds that what he has left behind leaves her with more questions than answers. She leaves her home in Canada to spend the month of May in Norfolk to try and answer the questions she has: who is Catkins and why is a beach hut significant?

Sylvie meets a woman and child by a beach hut in Norfolk just before war breaks out and they become friends. And this friendship leads to some far-reaching consequences over the years that follow.

Normally with dual timeline stories, it's the modern day story that really engages me, probably because there are usually a lot of discoveries to be made about the story in the past. But in the case of The Lost Letters I think I much preferred Sylvie's story. It's a perfect snapshot of wartime and how much it changed people and families. It's so engaging, so interesting. I found it similar in a way to Kate Atkinson's wartime writing - very intuitive and evocative.

But that's not to say that Martha's story is not engaging because it is. She's a bit adrift after losing her father. Her daughter is away from home at Cambridge University and is drifting away from Martha. She's wondering which way to turn in her life. I really enjoyed her journey of discovery about herself, her daughter, her family and her life.

I thought The Lost Letters was a beautifully written story. It's not overly sentimental but it did move me and I think that was because of the quality of the writing and the way that I started to care about the characters and what happened to them. After a slightly slow start I found myself completely embroiled in a story that is quite melancholy at times, full of emotion and depth. After a debut of this quality I shall very much look forward to Sarah Mitchell's next book.

I really enjoyed this book. World War 2 events intertwined with the present in a wonderful way. The decision to send a child to Canada must have been heart wrenching. The horrors and decisions made in the 1940s are still felt in the lives of the present day characters in this book. This story brings history to life. I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I was transported back to 1940… I was Sylvia, I was Connie…my heart ached for the pain that war inflicts upon mothers, fathers, children, soldiers.. people!!!
Fast forward to the present… I was Martha, I was Elizabeth, I was Janey! My heart ached for Martha and her quest to find the secrets of her father’s past and for the pain she felt as the mother of a child (Janey) that was distant and defensive. I loved how brave Martha was and how determined she became to get to the bottom of her family’s secrets!
Told in alternating perspectives and time periods made this story very difficult to put down! The connection between the characters over 60 years time was astonishing and so elegantly and convincingly done! When the secrets to her family’s past are revealed, the story unravels so clearly it’s almost like you are jumping through a time portal!
Cheers to Sarah Mitchell for writing this amazing Wartime fiction. She managed to weave together the past and the present taking the reader on a fabulously terrifying journey that gripped me from page 1! How far would you go to protect the ones you love?

I was transported back to 1940... I was Sylvia, I was Connie...my heart ached for the pain that war inflicts upon mothers, fathers, children, soldiers.. people!!! 
Fast forward to the present... I was Martha, I was Elizabeth, I was Janey! My heart ached for Martha and her quest to find the secrets of her father's past and for the pain she felt as the mother of a child (Janey) that was distant and defensive. I loved how brave Martha was and how determined she became to get to the bottom of her family's secrets! 
Told in alternating perspectives and time periods made this story very difficult to put down! The connection between the characters over 60 years time was astonishing and so elegantly and convincingly done! When the secrets to her family's past are revealed, the story unravels so clearly it's almost like you are jumping through a time portal! 
Cheers to Sarah Mitchell for writing this amazing Wartime fiction. She managed to weave together the past and the present taking the reader on a fabulously terrifying journey that gripped me from page 1! How far would you go to protect the ones you love?

4 Stunning Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A beautiful story all about secrets and sacrifice... this is my favorite way to read historical fiction a duel timeline of the past and present... add in a mystery to be solved and I am hooked!

This story is told from the perspective of Martha in the present day... Martha’s father recently passed away in the middle of writing his memoir... when Martha is sorting through her father’s stuff she comes across some mysterious letters.... The discovery of these letters prompts Martha to hop on a plane to England to solve the puzzle of her family’s past..... The story is also told from the perspective of Sylvie in the past.... it is the beginning of WWII in England... Sylvie’s husband is off at war and she is left to care for their two young children alone... her saving grace is her friendship with Connie and a beach hut left to her by her aunt....

I really liked Martha’s character she was so down to earth and my heart broke for Sylvie.... how these two ladies and these two stories are connected is a puzzle that is pieced together throughout the book...

There is a huge focus on mothers love in this book... the evacuation of the children during wartime is so heart wrenching.... what in the world would you do in that situation? There just is no good answer!

A beautiful and intriguing story that will keep you turning those pages and wanting to hug your loved ones!

*** many thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this book ***

**RATING 4.5**

Firstly I just have to say something about this stunning cover - it is quite possibly the prettiest book cover I have seen so far this year and really catches the eye. Now I can talk about this absolutely engrossing dual timeline novel that will capture your heart, body, and soul and take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

In the present day, Martha has just buried her father when she discovers a collection of letters to an English woman and the plans of a trip to the English seaside town of Wells. A little lost in her life, Martha impulsively decides to take this trip and uncover the mystery surrounding this relationship.
The story moves from Martha's quest to Sylvia's story in England in the 1940s. Sylvia's part of the story ensnared my heart as love, loss, heartbreak, and strength take centre stage as the tragedy of war really hits home to the reader.
Can Martha discover how it all links together and find hope for the future?

The characters are full of depth and feeling and the reader cannot help be caught up in the drama of it all. I enjoyed following Martha as she tries to dig up the truth but my favourite parts of the story were those set in the 1940s with Sylvia. There was an added richness to these parts that made it come alive as I read and I couldn't put this book down. Be prepared to cry (just warning you now!) but also be prepared to smile at the strength, love, and determination that is shown throughout this story.

THE LOST LETTERS by Sarah Mitchell is a moving, heartbreaking, loving story that will take your breath away and I highly recommend it to all fiction fans but especially those who love historical and World War II novels.

Dual timeline historical fiction set in World War II? Don’t mind if I do!

The story starts with Martha whose father recently passed away. He was in the middle of writing his memoirs but the first twenty years of his life are missing. Amongst his effects, Martha and her sister find letters to someone called Catkins and a reservation for a hotel and beach hut in Norfolk. Martha seizes this opportunity to cross the Atlantic to look for answers.

In the chapters dealing with the past, we meet Sylvie. Her husband is away fighting in the war and she’s left to raise her two children on her own. When her aunt dies, Sylvie suddenly finds herself in possession of a beach hut. One day, she meets Connie and their friendship will change lives forever.

What started out a bit on the slow side, soon had me enthralled. It provided the perfect opportunity for me to get to know Martha and she quite often made me smile. With chapters switching between Martha in the present and Sylvie in the past, there is quite a lot to enjoy. Sylvie’s story provides the perfect background, whereas Martha’s is mostly where the pieces of the puzzle start to come together. Just when I thought I had figured it all out, the author led me in a different direction. There are plenty of twists in this story but they all felt quite natural.

Part of the story deals with the topic of the evacuation of children. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that must have been for everyone involved. For a parent to decide that they need to let their children go in order to keep them safe is not a choice any parent is willing to make. Will they ever see their children again? For the children who are sent away, to end up in a foreign country with people they don’t know … doesn’t bear thinking about. And we all know from history that not all the children were lucky enough to be treated well.

The Lost Letters is a thought-provoking and moving story about identity, family and friendship. With realistic and believable characters, clues to find and a mystery to solve, this will keep you entertained for hours. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and if a historical fiction mystery set in WWII is your thing, I have no doubt you will too.

I read the synopsis and I knew that this was one book that I had to read. This Ginger Book Geek loves family saga type books and also books that have something to do with the Second World War. This book ticked those boxes and so I eagerly sat down and began to read. I am so glad that I did as I really enjoyed the book but more about that in a bit.
I really felt for Martha’s character. She is still grieving the loss of her father and she is also trying to find out more about his early years and more about her family history. She has most of the memoirs that he had written but a big chunk of them are missing. Martha has to be a bit of a detective to put together the pieces of his story. Martha has a daughter herself who is studying at Cambridge University. I got the impression that Martha’s relationship is somewhat strained. Martha is eager to repair the relationship. Martha uncovers that her father had booked a beach hut in Norfolk for a month but she doesn’t know why. To make sense of his reason for booking the hut, she decides to go and take her father’s place in the beach hut. She hopes that she will find out a bit more about her father’s early years as well as her family tree. To kill two birds with one stone, she flies over to the United Kingdom from America to visit her daughter and to visit the beach hut that her father had booked. I empathised with Martha a lot in that I have lost my father too and I know exactly the sort of emotions that the death of a parent stirs up. All I will say is that the pain never goes away, you just learn to cope with it. I also understood Martha’s desperate need to find out more about her family history. I have felt similar and I found researching my family tree to be very interesting.
I have to be honest and say that I found this book to be rather slow to get going and it took me quite a while to get into it. However, once I got past Chapter 6, I found myself being swept along by the story in both time frames in the book. The book is well written and written from two different time zones. Martha’s part of the story takes part in the present day and the other part of the story takes place during the Second World War. This way of telling the story worked, the chapters interlinked well and the story flowed seamlessly. I’m a bit (well ok a big) nerd where modern history is concerned and I really did immerse myself in the story written during the wartime era. Everything the characters went through, I felt myself going through and so on. Once I got into the book I found myself becoming seriously addicted to reading it. I just had to know how the story ended and what secrets Martha uncovered along the way. To say that I felt as though I had been through the emotional wringer during the reading of this book is an understatement. There were certainly certain moments that even tugged on my heartstrings and usually I am not affected by books I have read, but in this case I was.
In conclusion once I got into the book I really did enjoy reading it and I would certainly recommend it to other readers. I can’t wait to read what comes next from Sarah Mitchell. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 4* out of 5*.

This book had two alternating timelines, World War II and the present day. The detailed descriptions of each made it easy to imagine the scene unfolding in my mind. This was a well written book that had great characters and a great plot!

After Martha's father had died, Martha and her sister Elizabeth discover that he had booked to go to England for a month staying in a small Norfolk coastal resort and renting a beach hut...... but why as far as they knew he hadn't been back to England since he was evacuated to Canada as a child during the war and what are the secret emails for catkin? Sylvia is left a beach hut in 1939 by an aunt that she didn't really know very well but as it is close to where her parents live she takes her two young children there and meets Connie with her young brother Charlie and strikes up a friendship that continues through the war

A lovely story I really enjoyed both timelines and the way the story and mystery of Martha's father unfolded

Martha Rodwell’s father passed away less than a month ago and she now finds herself on a plane heading to Europe. Her father was writing a memoir, but never got the chance to finish it before his passing. After his death, Martha and her sister, Elizabeth, discovered that their father had booked a hotel and rented a beach hut in a small English coastal town named Wells-next-to-the sea. Martha is unsure why her father chose this location in particular to finish his book especially since he hadn’t been to Europe in at least seventy years. So, she decides to take his booking to figure out why her father was drawn to this particular coastal town and also to find out why he had folders on his computer consisting of letters to someone named Catkins. Did her father have an affair and also who is Catkins?

The Lost Letters interweaves two stories switching from the present to the beginning of World War II where we also meet Sylvie and her family. Sylvie’s husband is away fighting in the war leaving her alone to raise two young children. Her only saving grace besides her children is her friendship with Connie. Here, we witness the day to day conflict and the terror people faced with bombings and the loss of loved ones. Sylvie also has to make difficult decisions regarding her family that tie in to our present story.

There is not one thing I did not love about this story. Right from the beginning I was drawn in to the mystery surrounding Martha and her family. The mystery is so intricately weaved throughout the pages and it's almost as if it is a puzzle and little by little we fit the pieces together until we get this final masterpiece right in front of us. Sarah Mitchell penned incredible stand out characters with heart and soul and we get to know them intimately and we can feel their pain and sadness and also the hope that each of them has. Family plays such an important role in this story in both the present and the past and we can see this through Martha and the love she has for her own daughter even though their relationship is strained. We also see the love Sylvie has for her children and the sacrifices she has made for them while trying to raise them during wartime.

The historical aspect of The Lost Letters story was by far my absolute favorite and here is where I found myself completely drawn into the story and you can see just how much research went into it. As an author, Sarah Mitchell really shines here. It was just so emotional and heartbreaking just reading about the bombs being dropped and the loss of lives and never knowing from one moment to the next if you will live or die. Just imagine the fear families had, women whose husbands went off to war, not knowing if they would ever return, their children being sent off to fight some never even coming back. Mitchell really shows the realities of wartime. It truly is heart wrenching.

The Lost Letters is a beautiful and poignant story that has completely captured my heart. It is a story about love, life, family, and the bonds of friendship that stand the test of time. The story is so simple and yet so intricate and brilliantly done. It takes an author like Sarah Mitchell to make me realize why I have such a love of reading. By far, this might just be my top read for the year. I will definitely be looking forward to more books by Sarah Mitchell.

The lost Letters by Sarah Mitchell. Read on August 2nd, 2018. Martha’s father dies and she goes searching to discover who Catkins is in the Letters left behind. In times of war parents make heart wrenching decisions of sending their children to other countries to keep them safe. I cannot imagine.

The Lost Letters had the best of both worlds as the reader experiences the present day story but also that connection to the past too. In a way I slightly edged more towards the storyline set in the past and this is no slight against the present day plot. I guess the past evoked a deeper hold on me as I wanted to know how the past affected the future. With secrets being kept that send ripples right through to the present especially as I was so intrigued as to the identity of Catkins. The historical aspect was so interesting and I learnt a few things while reading this book which I loved.

I will say that the pace began maybe slightly slower than I was necessarily expecting. However in a way I found this to be a positive thing as it ended up giving me a good base of getting to know both Martha and Sylvia. Seeing both of their experiences you really get a feel for their personalities in the different time periods and I really enjoyed both the contrast and similarities that were shown. It can be difficult to balance introductions to characters and the story but within a few chapters I thought this settled down perfectly. So definitely keep on reading because this story has a wonderful way of pulling you in. Sarah Mitchell created a story that easily made me feel for the characters and I have to admit to there being a few tears shed. I really don't want to go into too much detail because all the wonderful twists and turns are worth unearthing for yourself.

The Lost Letters managed to capture me in an emotional hold along with seeing a wonderful mystery play out!

Four stars from me!

With thanks to Noelle at Bookouture for my copy.