By The Book

Valerie Fraser Luesse immediately became a favorite author with her debut novel Missing Isaac. I make sure I read everything this talented author of Southern historical fiction writes. I finished Letters from My Sister a few days ago, and I just can’t let this story go! It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think — all positives in my book. Find out more below.

Two Sisters. One Single Event. A Family Changed Forever.

At the turn of the twentieth century, sisters Emmy and Callie Bullock are living a privileged life as the only daughters of a wealthy Alabama cotton farmer when their well-ordered household gets turned upside down by the arrival of Lily McGee. Arrestingly beautiful, Lily quickly–and innocently–draws the wrong kind of attention. Meanwhile, Callie meets a man who offers her the freedom to abandon social constraints and discover her truest self.

After Lily has a baby, Callie witnesses something she was never meant to see–or did she? Her memory is a haze, just an image in her mind of Emmy standing on a darkened riverbank and cradling Lily’s missing baby girl. Only when the sisters are separated does the truth slowly come to light through their letters–including a revelation that will shape the rest of Callie’s life.

Valerie Fraser Luesse is the author of four novels set in the South: Christy Award winner Missing Isaac (2018), Almost Home(2019), The Key to Everything (2020), and the upcoming Under the Bayou Moon (August 2021), all published by Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. An award-winning magazine writer, Luesse is perhaps best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she wrote major pieces on the Mississippi Delta, Acadian Louisiana, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Her editorial section on the recovering Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, photographed by Mark Sandlin, won the 2009 Travel Writer of the Year award from the Southeast Tourism Society. Luesse earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Auburn University and Baylor University, respectively. She is a native of Harpersville, Alabama, and lives in Birmingham, where she is the senior travel editor for Southern Living. Find her online at valeriefraserluesse.com; facebook.com/valeriefraserluessebooks; bakerpublishinggroup.com; bookbub.com/authors/valerie-fraser-luesse; and goodreads.com

My Impressions:

I absolutely loved Letters from My Sister by Valerie Fraser Luesse. An historical novel set in rural Alabama, it features the large and rambunctious Bullock family, especially the two daughters, Callie and Emmy. The book takes place in the early years of the twentieth century — there’s some technology and medical/scientific insight, but no cell phones, automobiles, or social media to distract the characters and readers. I found the look at a large family in a small community to be refreshing. But don’t think this book doesn’t have any deep themes. The characters are left to confront loss, prejudice, identity, and purpose. The male characters add a lot to the narrative — color, wit, and some romance — but the women’s stories are the heart of this novel. The author draws on the relationships within her own family to inspire the book, but as pointed out in the afterward, Callie and Emmy and Hepsy and Lily and Tirzah are their own people. And this is what I really loved about Letters from My Sister. The characters became very real to me. That’s probably why I didn’t want to let them go as I read the last page. I rejoiced as Callie grew, I mourned with the family’s losses, I was angry when evil men seemed to get their way. and I was relieved as justice prevailed. There is also a spiritual element that is very special. It may not be conventional for the modern reader, but it points to a God who sees and is active in our lives.

Letters from My Sister does not begin with a bang. Its slow pace fits the story — it fit my reading mood and took its time to touch my heart. The only negative is that the story had an ending. 😉 My book club is discussing this book later in the month. I sure am glad, because this book just begs to be talked about.

Highly Recommended.

Audience: adults.

(Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

Tags: historical fiction, Southern fiction, Valerie Fraser Luesse