The Love Note

The Love Note is a love story for the ages. I found the storyline to be original, and it was told in a way as to make it delightful to read.

The story is about Willa Duval, a passionate nurse with aspirations of becoming a doctor, like her father. You may not think very much of that, as there are many doctors today that are women. However, this story is set in the mid-nineteenth century. There weren’t so many back then, if any. Further, the story is set in England, and English medical schools at that time did not accept women.

“It was a strange, rather starkly empty world when one’s mother was no longer in it.”

The story is not really about Willa’s path to becoming a doctor, but her passion for medicine and helping patients is prevalent throughout the story. Rather, the story is about an old note Willa finds in her desk – a love letter. While considering the significance of the note, Willa decides to try and deliver it to the person for whom the note was intended. The problem is, she doesn’t really know who that is. All she knows is that the desk the note fell out of came from Crestwicke, where she spent many days of her childhood while her father treated the owner of the property. Thus, the adventure begins.

The love letter has a very prominent role in the story. In fact, the old love letter is part protagonist and part antagonist, depending on who is reading it. I’ve never read a story where a piece of paper had such a pivotal role.

That’s enough about the storyline. I don’t want to give anything away, except to say – IT’S GOOD! But not only is the story good, the way Politano told it is also worthy of mention.

“Wounds are only useful for reminding us when to duck next time.”

If I enjoy a story, I typically highlight a handful of passages that I think are worth remembering or otherwise well written. In The Love Note, I highlighted thirty-nine such passages! Part of that can be attributed to the fact that common language was different back then compared to today’s vernacular. However, without Politano’s way with words, I’m certain I would not have enjoyed the story nearly as much as I did.

The author’s use of fine description adds significant value to the story.  For example, when I read, “Her eyes glinted like sun against gunmetal,” my mind formed an immediate picture.  Here’s another example that touches on several senses:  “Soon we were escorted to a box seat near the stage, with red velvet chairs and gold-fringed curtains, the smell of gaslights filling our nostrils.”

The story takes a number of turns. Some of them were expected, but most of them were not. Whenever I thought I knew where the story was going, I soon learned that I was wrong. I consider that a testament to the originality of the storyline.

“Every word a mother speaks is like a knife—with power to shape or to wound.”

The pace was steady from the beginning through the climax. However, there were a number of times I wanted to skip ahead to find out what happened – but I didn’t. (I suggest you don’t either. The surprises are very nice.) Even though the storyline was original, I found all of the character arcs to also be original.

This is a wonderful read. Even if you don’t consider yourself a love story kind of reader, I think you’ll enjoy this one. I highly recommend that you give it a go!