The Last Letter

The Last Letter by Kathleen Shoop

About The Book:

For any daughter who thinks she knows her mother’s story…Katherine Arthur’s mother arrives on her doorstep, dying, 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 did her best to make a go of it on 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, and far from the prairie, Katherine has found the truth – she has discovered the last letter.

My Thoughts:

A very nice debut novel for the author! The book was longer than I had anticipated, but the entire book, from cover to cover, keeps you reigned in. The characters are so alive and so real, and the time and place settings are so perfect, you can envision it all so clearly. You begin to think this story is about Katherine, but I think it is really about Jeanie. What an amazing strong character Jeanie is. I really hope Kathleen Shoop plans to publish more books, because this is a superb debut!

About The Author:

Kathleen Shoop is a Language Arts Coach with a PhD in Reading Education whose 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 is her debut novel.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from Book Sparks PR. All thoughts and opinions are my own.