Epistolary (Letter) and Diary novels come in lots of shapes and sizes. We’ve all encountered this genre of book from The Diary of Anne Frank to Letters from Father Christmas by JRR Tolkien and The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. Some are written as stories only in letter or diary form that unfold through the voice of the writer and receiver. Sometimes the tales are one-sided, some are told from a variety of perspectives or writers.
Philippa Gregory’s newest novel Dark Tides
uses letters to tell of events occurring in the recent past, moving the story forward, filling in backstory, and describing life to relatives who live far away. In this case, sporadic letters are sent between London to New England describing recent events and telling of the death of a son. Letters reveal a little of what life is like in the new colony in the early 1600s. The letters are as descriptive as is the narrative in the book. Best of all, the letters foretell of troubles that will live on to the next generation. I’ve reviewed the book here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3507319738.
Letters may inform or ask the reader about events in their life, town, or occupation. A lovely example of this type of epistolary novel is
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16200.Ella_Minnow_Pea. It is a most creative epistolary novel, where the writer lives in a community founded by Nevin Nollop, “author of the immortal phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.’ “The town’s sign is in disrepair. By governing committee edict, residents are denied the use of any letters missing from the sign. As the book progresses and more letters fall from the sign, the letter writer becomes increasingly creative with her spelling. You’ll be forced to read this book out loud, sounding out each phonetically spelled word.
Another example of letters telling the story is 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368916.84. It’s probably the most famous, “go-to” set of letters that revolve around book collecting. It’s the first book I think of when hearing “epistolary” novel. For those of you unacquainted with the title, it’s a series of missives between an American writer and the 84 Charing Cross Road bookshop owner in London before, during, and after WWII. The letters ask for books, then describe the writer’s response to the physical object and the contents and thoughts of the author. The shop owner / bookseller responds in kind, making suggestions of other works. Throughout the book, you get a sense of the book trade, the customer, and events unfolding in Europe (and America). If you aren’t a book reader, the movie with the same title will enchant you.
As I said above, there are many types of epistolary novels. I’ve lumped books written through journal and diary entries. In the case of Anne Frank’s Diary, the story unfolds continuously through her entries as she addresses “Dear Kitty.” In other instances, the use of the journal or diary provides back story or fills in little details that are missing from the main narrative. Many non-fiction writers, particularly historians and journalists may dig through published or unpublished letters and diaries to learn details about a time, place, or event. Many politicians and office holders kept public diaries or journals to document their actions. President Obama, in his newest memoir A Promised Land
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55361205-a-promised-land, laments that he didn’t keep a diary so he had to rely on newspapers, government documents, and memory as he wrote his book. An aide memoire would have helped him immensely.
Why read this type of novel? For a change of pace perhaps, or to enjoy a different writing style. I gave a short talk about the epistolary and diary novels in my personal library. You find a list of the books I discussed in the next entry https://mbkcons2.blogspot.com/2021/01/epistolary-and-diary-novels-list-from.html
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