Blog tour: The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright

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Welcome to the blog tour for The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright by Clare Swatman!

More about the book…

Starting over can be hard to do…

So when mum of two Beth moves out of her beloved marital home and into an unloved and unkempt cottage, she can’t help but feel demoralised. Faced with months of DIY and dust, her children Jacob and Olivia aren’t impressed either. But when Beth finds a box of letters while she’s clearing out the children’s room, things start to look up.

The correspondence is decades old, between agony aunt Evelyn and those in need of solace. Intrigued as to why the letters have been kept safe all these years, Beth can’t resist reading them, and as the wisdom and kindness of Evelyn falls off the pages, so Beth starts to feel she has a friend and champion in this woman she has never met.

Good advice doesn’t age, and as life starts to look brighter, Beth begins to wonder if she could track down Evelyn and thank her for her help. But as Beth uncovers more about Evelyn’s story, it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. And now Beth is determined to bring peace to Evelyn as she has to her.

More about the author…

Clare Swatman is the author of three women’s fiction novels, published by Macmillan, which have been translated into over 20 languages. She has been a journalist for over twenty years, writing for Bella and Woman & Home amongst many other magazines. She lives in Hertfordshire. Before We Grow Old was published in January 2022.

My impressions…

It’s weird, and fascinating, how a well written book can sometimes help you understand some situations better than real life. I have friends who have separated from their spouses and have joint custody arrangements, but I hadn’t appreciated how hard they must find the days away from their children before stepping in Beth’s shoes. I couldn’t help but root for her and was so happy when she started picking up the pieces of her life., all thanks to some old agony aunt letters found while renovating her new home. Wow, that took me back to ‘the olden days’ of browsing magazines that would have the inevitable advice column!

All storylines are so nicely weaved together, and every chapter begins with one of the letters found and the respective answer. This is a nice touch, and a clever one too, since the issues expressed in these letters turn out to be relevant for the dilemmas faced by the characters. Plus, some of these letters are also there to introduce THE plot twist. Oh, I didn’t see that coming, but I clearly loved it! I adored this book, and I keep thinking about it way after having reached the final full stop.

Three words to describe it. Emotional. Intriguing. Heart-warming.

Do I like the cover? Yes, I love it!

Have I read any other books by the same author? Not yet! So many books, so little time!

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