Love Letters of Great Women

In this follow-up to Love Letters of Great Men, veteran editor Doyle mines six centuries for the romantic correspondence of extraordinary women. The earliest letter comes from Lady Joan Pelham in 1399, tactfully explaining to her husband why he must abandon his fight against Richard II to protect against immediate threats at home. Tragic letters from both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn confess their love for Henry VIII, who would eventually execute both of them. Lord Byron provides the subject for more than one letter, illuminating his tangle of relationships, and other letters do the same for William Wordsworth and Robert Schuman. Revealing letters include Queen Victoria's, exposing her cloying relationship with Prince Albert; and a letter from Emily Dickinson to her sister-in-law and long-time companion, Susan Gilbert. Doyle enriches her collection with succinct but insightful background notes, though her selections are primarily from Europe, with only a few American representatives (Abigail Adams, Edith Wharton, and Dickinson), and none from the rest of the world.