The Love Letter (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Cathleen Schine
- First Published: 1995
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1990’s
- Setting: Pequot, a fictional New England village
- Principal Characters: Helen MacFarquhar, Johnny Howell, Emily MacFarquhar, Constance Skattergoods, Lucy Dodge Hall, Lilian Lasch MacFarquhar, Eleanor Lasch, Jennifer, Kelly, George, Barry and Eliot
- Genres: Short fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Homosexuality or homosexuals, Love or romance, Lesbianism or lesbians, Letter writing
- Locales: New England
In an era when faxes and electronic mail are common modes of written communication, it is refreshing to read about literate lovers who create missives by hand, only for the eyes of their beloved. In The Love Letter, Cathleen Schine gently explores the private moments and intimate observations shared by Helen MacFarquhar, owner of Horatio Street Books in seaside Pequot and divorced mother of eleven-year-old Emily, with twenty-year-old Johnny Howell. After he takes a summer job in Helen’s bookstore, they are drawn together romantically despite themselves. Using both Helen’s and...
[The entire page is 1840 words long]
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