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Summary
Summary
When her bookshop closes its doors, Laura agrees to help organize a literary festival. Her initial excitement is followed by panic when she realizes that an innocent mistake has led the festival committee to believe that she is a personal friend of the reclusive writer Dermot Flynn. Even though Laura has been infatuated with Dermot since her college days, traveling to Ireland to persuade him to come out of hiding is not what she had in mind. Nevertheless, she sets off to charm her literary hero into headlining the festival. Unfortunately, Dermot is maddening, temperamental, and up to his ears in a nasty case of writer's block. But he's also infuriatingly attractive.... With all the warmth and wit that have made Katie Fforde's novels huge bestsellers in the U.K., Love Letters is an irresistible tale of love and literature and the quest for a happy ending.
Author Notes
Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming was born on 27 September 1952 in Wimbledon, London. She is founder of the Katie Fforde Bursary for writers who have yet to secure a publishing contract. She was for many years a committee member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and was elected its twenty-fifth chairman (2009-2011) and later its fourth president. In June 2010 she was announced as a patron of the UK's first National Short Story Week.
Many of Fforde's own experiences end up in her books. Her novel Going Dutch was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller in June 2007. Her titles include Stately Pursuits, Going Dutch, The Undercover Cook, The Perfect Match and A Summer at Sea.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hardworking author Fforde's (Wedding Season) latest delivers a cute but meandering story with a Nora Ephron feel. A chance meeting gives quiet bookshop clerk Laura Horsley a chance to organize a literary festival. Though Laura is initially unsure of herself, she gains the support of a potential sponsor, on the condition she fly to Ireland to find and bring back reclusive author, Dermot Flynn. Contrary to her expectations, handsome Dermot agrees-on the shocking condition that she sleep with him. Laura, a virgin, acquiesces, only to fall asleep before the deed is done. After Laura returns to England, circumstances bring Laura and Dermot together to teach a writing course, and Laura finally fulfills her earlier agreement. But when an encounter with a rival for Dermot's affections leaves Laura feeling like nothing more than a one night stand, she becomes determined to avoid Dermot. In the old-fashioned tradition of the great misunderstanding, Linda and Dermot's quarrels are eventually resolved. The focus on the heroine's personal growth and the closed door sex scenes lends this novel a comfortable if predictable retro Cinderella chick lit sensibility. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A timid, unemployed British bookseller has her horizons expanded by an encounter with an irascible Irish author.Laura, a 27-year-old virgin whose independent bookstore is the latest casualty of the chains, is jolted from her quarter-life doldrums by London agent Eleanora, who taps Laura to organize a literary festival for Eleanora's niece, Fenella. "Fen" needs a revenue stream to keep her stately home in the English countryside, and an annual lit fest featuring prominent authors seems just the ticket, provided she can procure a buzz-magnet like reclusive Irish scribe Dermot Flynn to headline. Dermot produced two iconic books in his youth, but nothing else in 15 years. Laura is charged with convincing Dermot to leave the shelter of his tiny Irish village, Ballyfitzpatrick. After one too many whiskeys in Dermot's favorite pub, she succumbs to his blarney. Dermot, to his credit, refrains from deflowering the semi-comatose Laura, but he does agree to appear at the festival. However, when the envious snipings of a blogger tip Dermot back over the edge, Laura is once more dispatched to Ireland to do triage. She finds Dermot passed out cold amid weeks of dirty laundry and unwashed dishes, and despite all her feminist better instincts, which we've yet to see any real sign of anyhow, she cleans up after him and feeds him. After an overheated session of sober but ecstatic lovemaking, Laura's a virgin no more, but her brief idyll is shattered when, out grocery shopping for ravenous Dermot, she's confronted by a girlfriend she didn't know he had. There follow several more pages of cat and mouse between Laura and Dermot as he tries to explain and she artfully dodges. The approach and avoidance gameWill Dermot show up at the festival? Will Laura return his texts and voicemails? Is Dermot simply in need of a muse like Laura to cure his writer's block?soon palls.Despite occasional flashes of wit, a standard romance tale with a predictable outcome.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Laura, younger than her years, relies on books for action in her life. But now her ideal job in a bookshop is ending, leaving her at loose ends. Arranging author signings is her forte. At her farewell event, she meets a strong-willed literary agent who compels her forward into her future. Next thing you know, Laura is helping plan a literary festival, meeting new friends, and heading off to Ireland to hunt up Dermot Flynn, an elusive author who will absolutely put the festival on the map. She finds adventure and more new friends; then, under the influence of much strong drink, she offers her body to Flynn to get him to attend the festival. Laura is more naive and innocent than many of Fforde's heroines, but she is as lovable and stalwart as any who have gone before her. She finds resources within herself that she never knew were there, has her heart broken, survives, and learns to make her way in the world with great success. In all, a sweet and engaging romance.--Hoover, Danise Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
At the start of this sweet romance, our well-read heroine, Laura Horsley, is quite distraught at the thought of her beloved Henry Barnsley Books closing its doors. Without any job prospects and leading a somewhat sheltered life, she is thankfully blessed with a knack for organizing fabulous bookshop events. At one such event, Laura is unexpectedly tapped by the notoriously demanding literary agent Eleanora Huckleby to plan a grand literary festival. Not only will Laura be setting up the festival, she is also charged with securing an appearance by the famous and reclusive Irish author Dermot Flynn. Having been a longtime fan and student of his work, she is not prepared for the complicated man she meets and his effect on her. In learning to challenge and trust herself, Laura takes some leaps of faith and learns a lot on the way. Verdict Fforde (Wedding Season) creates intelligent and humorous characters in Laura, Dermot, and, particularly, Eleanora. Readers can easily imagine how much fun it would be to be in Laura's shoes. Recommended for fans of British chick lit.-Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz, Cleveland P.L. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
