"‘Then all you’re left with at the end are the memories. Good and bad. But you’ve got to go out and make them, no matter what risks there might be.’"

Reading a historical fiction romance wouldn't always be my first choice but I felt drawn to this book. The writing is understated and has a wonderful narrative flow. The characters are all genuine and the story played in my mind like a movie. I could see the cast, I knew the locations and I felt, deeply, the challenges and emotions they were going through. This book is about love, but it's also about not cutting yourself off. It's about believing something meant for you is still coming to you even when it feels like the world has ended. Life, as #TheForgottenLettersOfEstherDurrant by #KayteNunn is full of surprises and we have no way of knowing what's coming next.

Emotional and heart-breaking but also heartwarming. I'm new to the author but will definitely look out for more.

This story is told over dual timelines and is packed with great characters
The descriptions of the location were captivating and mad me wish I was there.
This is a bittersweet tale

A second chance for love?

The year is 1951, and John Durrant tells his wife Esther that he’s taking her away for a holiday, without their young son, Teddy. Their destination is the Isle of Little Embers, one of the many small islands that make up the Isles of Scilly. Ester doesn’t argue. She’s incapable of feeling anything except deep grief and depression at the loss of her second son shortly after his birth.

When they arrive on the island, John introduces her to Dr Richard Creswell and tells her that he’s returning to London immediately. She will be staying on the island and will receive treatment from the doctor for her depression. Esther is shocked that he’s managed to “hoodwink” her into agreeing to go on holiday and leaving Teddy and infuriated to think that John considers her to be mentally ill and needing specialised psychiatric treatment.

In 2018 Rachel Parker, an Australian marine biologist, accepts a post to study clams around the Isles of Scilly and the effects of climate change on them. This study is being funded by the Life Sciences Department of the Natural History Museum.

Not long after arriving on the main island, St Mary’s she sets off in her little tinny boat to explore some of the islands and get a better idea of where to start her research on the clams. Unfortunately, a storm unleashes it’s fury on her, overturning her boat and she barely makes it to shore on Little Embers. She only escapes drowning thanks to the present owner of the island, Leah rescuing her after her hand is caught bt

It is while she’s forced to stay on the island as there is no way to contact St Mary’s to tell them of her accident. She’s stranded without any clothing. Leah remembers that there is a suitcase of woman’s clothing in the attic. She retrieves it so that Rachel can find something suitable to wear and when she starts going through the suitcase, she discovers letters addressed to Esther dating back to 1952.

She’s fascinated by the letters and sets out to find who the mysterious author is and why the letters were never posted to Esther.

The storyline is unique, and I did enjoy the bits about the island and the psychiatrist who had adopted Little Embers as the place for his practice to help severely depressed ex-soldiers suffering from PTSD and Esther from postpartum depression. However, none of the characters appealed to me. I felt no connection to them, and I found myself skimming pages. The ending was predictable and in true fairy-tale style – they all lived happily ever after.

Bluebell

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

I really enjoyed this book and was fascinated at the insight into how post natal depression, and other mental health issues have been dealt with in the past.

The relationships formed were very heartfelt and portions of this book made me feel quite emotional.

I much preferred the characters in the historical section of the book, but overall thoroughly enjoyed and I'll be sure to look out for further releases by Nunn.

This is a fantastic book set in the present day and in the early 1950’s. In 1951, Esther Durrant is suffering from what we now know as post natal depression, and is left against her will at a remote island to receive help. The doctor in charge is an old school friend of her husband’s and takes Esther on as a patient along with several men suffering from PTSD after the Second World War.
In the present time, Rachel arrives in The Isles of Scilly to start a new scientific research project. After becoming stranded on the very same island where Esther spent time in the past, she finds some belongings and unsent love letters that lead her to track down the recipient.
I found this book to be incredibly well researched and highlighted the changing ways we have viewed mental heath issues over the years. The role of women in society and their emancipation also feature strongly, with an emphasis on the main characters being strong, independent women.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. Am very much looking forward to seeing what the author writes next.

I loved this heart wrenching and engrossing story. It moved and it raised strong emotions.
The author is a talented storyteller who manage to keep the two storyline never confusing and always keeping the attention of the reader.
The characters are well thought and interesting, the historical background well researched.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

<b><I>3.5 stars</I></b>

<I>Time seemed to both speed up and slow down whenever she was with him, as if touched by a wonderful kind of magic, as if they existed outside time itself.</I>

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is an eloquently written love story, with a narrative that spans two different generations.

A modern day research scientist who is stranded on a tiny island in the Atlantic during a storm discovers a few letters from 1952, all of which are addressed to Esther Durrant. They’re love letters which were never sent, and the scientist finds herself captivated by the letters, seeing as most proclamations of romance today happen as either text messages or Instagram captions. Her aim now is to find the intended recipient, and find out the story behind these letters.

With multiple POVs and dual timelines, the 1950s portion is narrated by Esther and her then psychiatrist, while the 2018 portions are narrated by Rachel, the scientist, and Eve, Esther’s granddaughter. The plot is fairly linear, with no twists or unexpected surprises. The style of writing is similar to what one might find in a non-fiction book, but considering that this book is primarily set in a British island in the middle of nowhere in the 1950's, the more leisurely pace suited this book.

The part of the novel I found most interesting was the insight into the treatment of depression and other mental disorders in the 1950s. The efforts Nunn has put into the research is evident in the descriptions and the dialogues. Esther being "sent away" by her husband to this remote-island-cum-psychiatric-ward so that the doctor can "cure" her depression, according to Nunn's author's note, is inspired by how her great-grandmother was treated for her mental health issues.

I enjoyed the sedentary pace of the island life, both in the 1950s and in 2018, and the imagery used by Nunn is vivid and realistic — I often felt like I was back in Maldives, walking on the sand and watching the fish in the shallow water. The other characters, both those of the island, and those on the mainland, were a motley group and were well developed.

(Aside: The author and Rachel’s Australian-ness seemed to seep into any character who was interacting with the latter!)

However, the plot, often times, felt absent. Such a large quota of the book is devoted to setting up the scenery, that the plot is just laid aside, and presented very simply to the readers. The foreshadowing isn't subtle — it's all tell and very little show. While sometimes I enjoyed the simplicity, at other times, it lowered the elegance of the entire book.

Continuing in the same vein, another issue that I feel warrants discussion is the lack of "show" time given to the titular letters. A couple of them are read out completely by Rachel (the scientist), while the others are just skipped over. Readers are to simply believe Rachel's opinion that these are the most romantic letters, without being given an opportunity to look at the content and come to the same conclusion.

Similarly, the romance between Esther and one of the island inhabitants is glossed over. We’re told that she’s falling in love, rather than shown.

In my eyes, that was a detractor from the beauty of Nunn’s imagery. Maybe all tell and no show would work better in nonfiction, but it didn’t really work in this novel.

The only other issue I had was that it often felt like Nunn was forcing the reader to like Rachel’s character. I did like Rachel and her indecisiveness about love, but it felt like Nunn was working extra hard to make her likable to the average reader.

Overall, a very different experience from my usual fare of thrillers, I enjoyed Nunn’s descriptive writing. This book is perfect for rainy Tuesday afternoons, when you’d like to curl up on your futon with a cuppa and let yourself be transported to a tiny island in the middle of nowhere.

Special thanks to Orion Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC. I enjoyed reading the book!

TW: Mental health, suicide

This is such a wonderful book, it’s so much more than The synopsis makes you think. It’s a lovely multi layered book , so much going on, a great story, thoroughly engaging and entertaining , well written, the writing is beautiful just like the story. Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy. This is my first book by Kayte Nunn and I will certainly be on the lookout for more. Very likeable and well written characters. Beautifully written, strong imagery and I loved the story lines.

This story has a timeline between 1952 and the present day and tackles some interesting issues through the medium of forgotten letters and flashbacks. Changing attitudes and approaches to mental health, post natal depression, PTSD, homosexuality, and a woman's role are all contained within an absorbing tale set mainly in the Channel Islands. The characters are well drawn and credible and I wanted to know what the resolution would be, so stayed up to read to the end!

This is a book with 3 main threads. In the 1950s we follow Esther, a young mother with post natal depression who is sent to recuperate on a remote island off Cornwall. In the modern day we follow independent Rachel a marine biologist who is finding her feet in the Scilly Isles ready to start a new project. The third thread follows Eve as she helps her Grandmother recuperate following a fall.

This is a book which had great potential but which I didn’t feel quite lived up to it. The historical thread including Esther was one that required much more depth and historical fact. I would have been fascinated to learn more about the treatment of post natal depression and other mental illnesses in the 1950s. However the author barely skimmed the surface giving little depth. If the characters and the historical aspects of this thread had been fully developed this would have made a great story. Unfortunately there was just not enough depth.

In fact, this book lacked depth throughout. In Rachel’s thread we get side tracked onto a an issue concerning an artist on a remote island. This was important to the story of the letters. However the author gets side tracked onto another thread concerning an artist. This had no real part in the book and was concluded in a rush later. Personally I don’t feel the side story of the artist should have been developed at all leaving more space to pursue the main threads in more depth.

The third thread concerning Eve just irritated me. There is an elderly English woman talking about her early life who refers to trousers as pants – No! This is an Americanism which few English people use nowadays let alone someone who is over 90. Attention to these these little details are very important to develop the character.

The idea of this book was great but the execution was not. There were good bits but the book as a whole really lacked depth and detail. Such a shame.

This is a story that follows three different women, Esther, Rachel and Eve and spans the years from 1951 to 2018.

Esther is the main character and I enjoyed her story more than Rachel who I really disliked. Eve I feel was just there to make up the rest of the story.

It is a somewhat predictable but easy read tale that will appeal to romance/historical romance readers.

Thanks for an early copy in return for an honest review
Was looking forward to reading this got half way and had to give up.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I am not sure what to think about this book to be honest found it rather annoying to read and not really enjoyable.

Loved, loved this book. The multi layers wove an intriguing tale, and this was a well researched engaging and heart rending story.

There’s something about a novel with a hidden cache of letters that really gets the hair on the back of my neck tingling with excitement. When it’s a novel that’s this good and immersive, it’s the best thing a historical fiction fan could hope for.

There's lots to love here - a spooky island where a woman is sent to a mental asylum against her will. Horrifying enough but then you realise that the author has added a personal touch to this story and my heart started to bleed for her. What a remarkable thing for an author to do, to weave such a personal and heartbreaking tale into a novel. Kudos to her for doing it as it makes for such a powerful read.

Fuller review to come nearer the time but what I would say is that: I do like a dual time line novel but when it’s structured and intertwined as this,then I cheer inside. Then I remember the author’s brave acknowledgment at the end and I want to hug her.

It's themes of women, female ' mental health' and the treatment of women in general is heartbreaking but necessary to read about. Past and present stories combine really effectively and the true scale of the setting and issues come to the fore.