Book ~ "The Last Letter from Your Lover" (2011) Jojo Moyes

From Goodreads ~ When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper’s archives for a story, she doesn’t think she’ll find anything of interest. Instead she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband - and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair. Despite, or perhaps because of her own romantic entanglements with a married man.

In 1960, Jennifer wakes up in hospital after a car accident. She can’t remember anything - her husband, her friends, who she used to be. And then, when she returns home, she uncovers a hidden letter and begins to remember the lover she was willing to risk everything for. 

Ellie and Jennifer’s stories of passion, adultery and loss are wound together in this richly emotive novel - interspersed with real ‘last letters’.

There are two stories that interconnect in this book.  The first one starts in October 1960 when Jennifer wakes up in the hospital.  She's been in a car accident and has lost her memory.  She eventually goes home with a husband she doesn't remember and tries to pick up her life again ... but something doesn't feel right.  Then she finds some letters written by a man who loves her and who she obviously loves and she tries to figure out who it could be.

If was a different time in London back in the early 1960s ... you couldn't just get a divorce, you needed proof of infidelity, etc.  Jennifer was raised to become a rich man's wife and she doesn't know any other life, which plays on her confidence. This makes it hard for her to considering leaving this life for her love.

Forty years later, Ellie is working for a newspaper and comes across the letters stored away in the paper's library.  She has been dating John for the last year and is hoping that he'll leave his wife for her.  Because of her situation, Ellie relates to the letters and makes it her mission to find out who the lovers were and if they ended up together.  I found Ellie a bit annoying because all she thought and talk about was John, even to the point of almost losing her job.

This is the third book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style and found the story interesting.  The story jumps back and forth in time but the chapters are labeled so you know where you are ... I found this added to the suspense.  It's written in third person perspective ... when it was back in 1960s, it was written in past tense and and when it was in 2003, it was written in present tense.

It was interesting to compare the modes of communication in the 1960s (handwritten letters) and in 2003 (texts and emails).

While I enjoyed the book, I hated the title ... it sounds like it should be a Harlequin Romance.