cover image Letters from an Unknown Woman

Letters from an Unknown Woman

Gerard Woodward. Arcade, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-1-61145-312-6

Woodward’s brilliant exploration of ordinary lives caught in extraordinary circumstances showcases an imaginative wit, pointed insight, and a flare for the unexpected. After her husband, Donald, is called up to the front during WWII, Tory Pace sends her children to the English countryside and reluctantly accepts her mother’s decision to move in with her in London, despite the prospect of air raids. When Tory receives an official letter declaring Donald “missing,” she’s devastated, but when she gets a second letter, from Donald himself (with a very out-of-character request), she’s shocked; he wants his heretofore unexpressive wife to write him “really filthy” letters “full of all the dirtiest words and deeds you can think of.” This appeal sends Tory on an hilarious and, at times, touching quest to satisfy her husband’s unusual demand, culminating in an affair with her gelatin factory boss. Woodward (A Curious Earth, shortlisted for the Man Booker) takes a unique approach to the hardships women faced during wartime, the impact of the war on the men who survived, and the ways in which the children who lived through it tried to make sense of their upended lives, turning a story about one family’s struggles into a tale of self-discovery, overcoming despair, and finding one’s rightful place in the world. Best of all is the ingenious use of Toby’s salacious letters and Woodward’s not-so-subtle indictment of commercial publishing. (Oct.)