The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant

Author: Kayte Nunn

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Release date: May 28th 2019

Pages: 372 pages

R.R.P: $29.99

A cache of unspent love letters from the 1950s is found in a suitcase on a remote island in this mysterious love story by top ten bestselling author, Kayte Nunn.

1951     Esther Durranr, a young mother, is committed to an isolated mental asylum by her husband. Run by a pioneering psychiatrist, the hospital is at first Esther's prison but soon becomes he refuge.

2018     Free-spirited marine scientist Rachel Parker embarks on a research posting in the Isles of Scilly, off the Cornish coast. When a violent storm forces her to take shelter on a far-flung island, she discovers a collection of hidden love letters. Captivated by their passion and tenderness, Rachel determines to track down the intended recipient.

Meanwhile, in London, Eve is helping her grandmother, a renowned mountaineer, write her memories. When she is contacted by Rachel, it sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to reveal secrets kept buried for more than sixty years.

My Review

Thoughts on the book: The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is the new book by bestselling author  Kayte Nunn and of course is told in multiple points of views. The multiple POV told in both past and the present tell the story of a young Esther Durrant who has been placed at a mental asylum by her husband after suffering a horrible tragedy and as the novel progresses we learn more about how she came to be there and about the other people in the asylum. Of course as with Kayte Nunn's previous book there is also two other storyline's one which involves Rachel Parker who after being shipwrecked discovers the lost letters of Esther Durrant and becomes determined to find both the recipient and the sender while also trying to sort through her love life. Another POV is Eve who is writing her grandmother's memoirs while she is healing from a fall. But it seems her grandmother is holding something back and it's not until Rachel contacts her that the secrets spill out. How are they all connected and will they all make it out of this adventure without getting hurt?

A massive thank you to Alana from Hachette Australia for sending me a copy of The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn to read and review for you. I was ecstatic when you contacted me about this book as I loved The Botanist's Daughter last year so much and was really looking forward to reading more from Kayte. Both books have strong female characters that have suffered a hardship but have come through the other side stronger and more capable to deal with what life has to throw at them. Of course it wouldn't be an amazing book without a love story floating around in the background and being told in multiple POV. I have decided that I really enjoy multiple POV books as there is more than one storyline happening and if you get bored with one (which I never do) you always have another one to back you up and you also have multiple views of the same event that is happening which gives you different parts to the story. They add more depth to the novel and I especially found it with this book that I got so much more of the story and enjoyed having more POV's then just the one.

Of course some very hard topics that people suffered in the past and are still suffering today are discussed throughout the book as well. The residents of the asylum all have different issues that they are working through with the doctor and some were very clear to see from the start but others you don't find out until further in the novel and I must admit I was blindsided by some of the things that were revealed but that's what made it such a fantastic novel.

So if your looking for a heartfelt, yet heartbreaking story that gives you amazing strong characters and has an ending that is very fitting and doesn't leave you wanting more then The Forgotten Letters by Esther Durrant is for you.

Rating: 4/5