The Last Letter from Juliet

By: Melanie Hudson

Narrated by: Stephanie Beattie

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

 

The USA TODAY best seller!  

Inspired by the brave women of WWII, this is a moving and powerful novel of friendship, love and resilience for fans of My Name is Eva, The Alice Network and The Tattooist of Auschwitz.   

A story of love not a story of a war....   

A daring WWII pilot who grew up among the clouds, Juliet Caron’s life was one of courage, adventure – and a love torn apart by war. Every nook of her Cornish cottage is alive with memories just waiting to be discovered. Katherine Henderson has escaped to Cornwall for Christmas, but she soon finds there is more to her holiday cottage than meets the eye. And on the eve of Juliet’s 100th birthday, Katherine is enlisted to make an old lady’s final Christmas wish come true....  

Me Before You meets The English Patient in this stunning romantic historical novel.

©2019 Melanie Hudson (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"I loved it." (Jill Mansell)

A tour de force an exceptional story

Superb narration, a voice that felt like a friend’s from the first. A wide ranging, reliably researched story that touched my heart. Interspersed with small everyday thoughtful bites of philosophy that rang so true, Melanie Hudson has created two heroines who grab your affections, as Juliet says, from the ‘get go’. Katherine is the present day voice, a damaged, grieving soul, widowed young and now very much in need of a way ahead. Cornwall provides that warmth in spades. Staying in Juliet’s cottage for Christmas she finds memoirs of her young life that fascinate and educate her eager reader. Two time scales run in parallel through this book, merging ever closer as the end nears. A huge read that I lived through with true pleasure. Comparable perhaps to Clare Francis’ (and apostrophes do matter in Angels Cove…) SOE story or Tim Jeal’s Deep Water, this involves and celebrates the daring work of the ATA girls and more covert operations. I absolutely loved it and am ready to find more of Melanie’s books.

Pamela Dear

What a story that I never wanted it to end. I cried at the amazing passion in which the story was written and also told. .

Fabulous

Fabulous! The best book I've listened to for a long time. Melanie Hudson is now my very favourite author 😀

Loved it all!

A beautiful story and a fantastic narrator. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Juliet is an inspirational character.

Superb !

I listened to Melanie Hudson's first audiobook, The Wedding Cake Tree and thought it was fabulous. I kept looking at The Last Letter from Juliet on Audible for a good while but never plucked up the courage to download it, as I am not a fan of anything to do with the wars, whether first or second. However after finally succumbing to its download after reading yet more glowing reviews, I settled down to do my chores whilst listening to my book. What took me so long to buy it?!! It was fabulous. Juliet is wonderful, such a character with so much spirit. Her story was typical of the many losses suffered by those involved in the war, and towards the end of the book, I was actually properly crying (my dogs looked across at me as if I was mad!).

The story has a dual time line, Juliet's during the WW2 and Katherine's during the present day. The story sees Katherine, a widow in her 40's, going to stay for Christmas in Cornwall at the behest of her uncle, but lodges at a nearby cottage owned by Juliet's grandson, who is away in a military capacity.

Katherine soon settles into Cornish life, and the writer brings a few local characters into the story to support Katherine as her widow's weeds finally begin to fall away. Meanwhile she starts reading Juliet's diaries which are vivid and descriptive. Juliet became an ATA girl, ferrying planes from airbase to airbase for the male pilots to fly. Juliet is amazing and a fabulous pilot. Her diaries describe her flying, her friends, old & new and her meeting with an American based in Cornwall called Edward. Their love story unfolds throughout the book.

I would highly recommend this audiobook, because not only is it very well written but the narrator Stephanie Beattie is outstanding & catches exactly the gung ho, can-do attitude of Juliet. It is such a pleasure when a splendid book has exactly the right narrator. A pleasure to listen to. Thank you.

I see that Melanie Hudson has a 3rd book, but sadly is not yet recorded for Audible. Maybe soon? I hope so.