A Father’s Deceit
A Husband’s Betrayal
A Loved One’s Death
A Mother’s Choice
A Daughter’s Resentment
A Time to Forgive
For every daughter who thinks she knows her mother’s story…
Katherine wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t found the last letter…
Katherine Arthur’s dying mother arrives on her doorstep, forcing her to relive a past she wanted to forget. When Katherine was young, the Arthur family had been affluent city dwellers until shame sent them running for the prairie, into the unknown. Taking her family, including young Katherine, to live off the land was the last thing Jeanie Arthur had wanted, but she would do her best to make a go of it. For Jeanie’s husband Frank it had been a world of opportunity. Dreaming, lazy Frank. But, it was a society of uncertainty — a domain of natural disasters, temptation, hatred, even death.
Ten-year-old Katherine had loved her mother fiercely, put her trust in her completely, but when there was no other choice, and Jeanie resorted to extreme measures on the prairie to save her family, she tore Katherine’s world apart. Now, seventeen years later, Katherine has found the truth — she has discovered the last letter. After years of anger, can Katherine find it in her heart to understand why her mother made the decisions that changed them all? Can she forgive and finally begin to heal before it’s too late?
About the Author
A Language Arts Coach with a Ph.D. in Reading Education, Kathleen lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.
Kathleen’s debut novel, The Last Letter was garnered multiple awards in 2011. Her second novel, After the Fog (Silver IPPY), was a category finalist in the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Her third novel, Love and Other Subjects, earned a Silver medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and received an Honorable Mention from the San Francisco Book Festival. Recently, Kathleen has released the her first romance novella, Home Again (Book One). Book Two, a novel-length work in the Endless Love series called Return to Love, will be released in May, 2014.
Books Two and Three in the historical fiction series that started with The Last Letter are nearly complete and should be released by fall, 2014.
Kathleen has been featured in USA Today and the Writer’s Guide to 2013. Her work has appeared in The Tribune-Review, four Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and Pittsburgh Parent magazine. She lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.
The Last Letter by Kathleen Shoop
My rating: 4 of 5 starsFirst of all, this is a realistic historical fiction book, and I do wish to prepare anyone who tackles this book for plenty of tragedy. All too often, we glamorize the pioneer days. We think that every family somehow made it through the struggles with flying colors. Money may have been tight, but everything worked out like a “Little House on the Prairie” episode. History tells us that was not the case. Tragedy was always lurking closely to every family on the frontier just waiting to strike. Yes, there was infidelity, snakes, and even drug addictions. And this book depicts this through expertly-written prose. I highly recommend this book even though it is rather difficult to read at times. There are no bedroom scenes, and the profanity is minimal. I prefer books with some levity, but the reader will not find that in this book. Notwithstanding, I recommend this book to true lovers of historical fiction.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.
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4 Comments
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Since I love to read, I would spend the $15 Amazon gift card on books.
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My dogs go through leashes too fast and always need new ones. There’s one on Amazon I’ve been wanting to get that the $15 would just cover.
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Yes, it was a doom and gloom read, but well worth it.
Julie recently posted…Thoughts, Love & Reflections Book Review
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I absolutely adored this book, such a great read.
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