The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (2 May 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405934956
• ISBN-13: 978-1405934954

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

Lost letters have only one hope for survival . . .

Inside the Dead Letters Depot in East London, William Woolf is one of thirty letter detectives who spend their days solving mysteries. Missing postcodes, illegible handwriting, rain-smudged ink, lost address labels, torn packages, forgotten street names – they are all the culprits of missed birthdays, broken hearts, unheard confessions, pointless accusations, unpaid bills and unanswered prayers.

When William discovers letters addressed simply to ‘My Great Love’ his work takes on new meaning.

Written by a woman to a soulmate she hasn’t met yet, the missives stir William in ways he didn’t know were possible. Soon he begins to wonder: Could William be her great love?

William must follow the clues in Winter’s letters to solve his most important mystery yet: the human heart.

 

Review

The Lost Letters of William Woolf has been on my TBR list for a few months so when I was asked to be part of the blog tour I jumped at the chance to bump it up and finally get to read it.  This debut novel by Helen Cullen is a delight to read, with a wonderful central character and a heartwarming and life affirming plot.  William Woolf works at the Dead Letters Depot in London reuniting letters that have got lost to their desired recipient.  When letters arrive addressed to ‘My Great Love’ from Winter, he believes fate has brought them to him and he could be Winter’s great love; the only problem being he is married.  With his marriage on the rocks he begins to search for Winter in the places mentioned in her letters; could he have a new life, and could she be ‘the one’.

Set in the 1990’s this book has a touch of nostalgia about it; a time when people still wrote letters to each other rather than emails, and there was no internet to search for people. William is a detective for lost letters and parcels, reuniting them with their intended owners, including Whale vomit intended for a museum, and a medal from a fireman to the boy he saved during the war.  Some of the letters were very emotional some funny but all were treated with the same respect and where possible sent to recipient.  The idea of this depot of lost letters is like a world of hope, where the lost are found and opportunities come to life; it seems like the perfect place to work.  This may seem a bit sentimental and nostalgic but Helen Cullen doesn’t over do the sweetness that could take over, but instead keeps the balance with the relationship between William and his wife Clare and the more mundane features of everyday life.

I loved William as a character, he is a romantic at heart and not one for confrontation.  He seems old for his years, in his clothes and in his life; he is only in his thirties but dresses like someone much older and isn’t one for going out much.  His marriage to Clare seems to be in a rut, where as William is more of a dreamer, Clare is a realist who put her dreams of being an artist to one side to become a lawyer.  She is the main breadwinner and wants more out of life, a bigger house, a better lifestyle but William is happy as they are. At the centre of this is her disappointment in William for not writing the novel he was destined for after university, and in turn he is disappointed in her disappointment.  The letters from Winter let him dream of this perfect woman, she could be his soulmate, the love of his life, a way out of his problems; a fantasy rather than the reality of his life. What comes through is how relationships change over time, those first years of passion give way to a different love that takes in all the practicalities  of life and how our relationships adapt to that.

The Lost Letters of William Woolf  is such a beautiful book to read, about love and marriage and the dreams we have. The prose is lyrical and flows easily taking you with it.  William and Clare were characters I took to my heart, facing the difficulties life can throw and trying to work their way through it.  This is  stunning read, great locations, memorable characters and an amazing plot, a perfect read in my opinion; I wish I could read it again for the first time.

 

I would like to thank Penguin books for my copy of The Lost Letters of William Woolf in return for an honest review.

Thank you also to you, my readers, for taking the time to read my blog, it means a lot to me.