I'll Be Seeing You
Suzanne Hayes, Loretta Nyhan, 2013
Harlequin Mira
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780778314950
Summary
I hope this letter gets to you quickly. We are always waiting, aren't we? Perhaps the greatest gift this war has given us is the anticipation...
It's January 1943 when Rita Vincenzo receives her first letter from Glory Whitehall. Glory is an effervescent young mother, impulsive and free as a bird. Rita is a sensible professor's wife with a love of gardening and a generous, old soul. Glory comes from New England society; Rita lives in Iowa, trying to make ends meet. They have nothing in common except one powerful bond: the men they love are fighting in a war a world away from home.
Brought together by an unlikely twist of fate, Glory and Rita begin a remarkable correspondence. The friendship forged by their letters allows them to survive the loneliness and uncertainty of waiting on the home front, and gives them the courage to face the battles raging in their very own backyards. Connected across the country by the lifeline of the written word, each woman finds her life profoundly altered by the other's unwavering support.
A collaboration of two authors whose own beautiful story mirrors that on the page, I'll Be Seeing You is a deeply moving union of style and charm. Filled with unforgettable characters and grace, it is a timeless celebration of friendship and the strength and solidarity of women. (From the publisher.)
Author Bios
Suzanne Hayes also writes under the name Suzanne Palmieri. As the latter, she is the author of The Witch of Little Italy, The Witch of Belladonna Bay, and The Witch of Bourbon Street. As Suzanne Hayes, she has co-authored I’ll Be Seeing You and Empire Girls with Loretta Nyhan. Her novels have been translated into five different languages and have earned stars from Kirkus and Booklist. She lives in a haunted farm house by the ocean with her husband and three darling witches. (From the author's website.)
Loretta Nyhan was a reader before she was a writer, devouring everything she could get her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and the instructions booklet for building the Barbie dream house. Later, her obsession with reading evolved into an absolute need to write. After college, Loretta wrote for national trade magazines, taught writing to college freshmen, and eventually found the guts to try fiction.
I'll Be Seeing You, her novel cowritten with Suzanne Hayes, debuted from Harlequin Mira in 2013.
Loretta also writes paranormal thrillers for HarperTeen.
When she's not writing, Loretta is knitting, baking, and doing all kinds of things her high school self would have found hilarious. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her very patient husband and two wonderful sons. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The authors have composed letters that, if found in your grandmother's attic, would make you want to stay up all night reading.... Aside from the climactic sequence, the epistolary format never fully gels, as too many episodes call for a narrator's omniscience. Nevertheless, Nyhan and Hayes show us that letters from a cherished friend have a particular role to play in shepherding us through life's loves and losses
Publishers Weekly
Authentic touches bring the era alive...[and] provide a specific, everyday context for such timeless and universal passages and struggles as birth, death, grief, wartime temptations, divided loyalties, and hope.... [A] deeply satisfying tale. —Whitney Scott
Booklist
(Starred review.) [A] powerful, fascinating look at the war years and at the interesting choices and tragic consequences of a nation enduring an overseas war. Engaging, charming and moving, a beautifully rendered exploration of WWII on the homefront and the type of friendship that helps us survive all manner of battles.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
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