Cécile Pivot

An epistolary - so long since I have read one and a good one as well. Reading this book made me sad that so many of us have given up the fun of letter writing. I remember being at camp and a letter home every few days was mandatory. I also remember having my grammar and writing skills corrected and critiqued by my parents, but that was then. Before the internet and the freedom of unrestricted telephone we had paper and pen and that is how we maintained our friendships, our relationships and our romances. It wasn’t that times were simpler it was simply that was what we had and that was what we did.

Back to this wonderful little book and the writer’s workshop Esther, a French bookseller has created. Such wonderful characters each with distinct personalities and a story to be told. Such accurate dissection of what was left unsaid and the most interesting pairings of letter writers and their empathy and sympathy towards each other, at least most of the time. Every now and then there is a peek at the alpha struggle to top the other but it is done with such gentility and bonhomie you can’t help but smile.

Interesting questions percolate - if these people were thrown together in a social gathering would they have gotten beyond “How do you do and that’s an interesting thought”? Probably not. The power of the written word can be life changing and Cecile Pivot has embraced and enhanced that notion.

Great thoughts, ideas, dialogue and writing. This book is an absolute delight. Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a copy.… (más)