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This Familiar Heart: An Improbable Love Story
This Familiar Heart presents the passionate and unlikely romance of popular Houston columnist and author Leon Hale and prize-winning writer Babette Fraser Hale, who was twenty-three years his junior. The story begins with their turbulent courtship, edging into partnership, and after eight years, a long marriage. It ends with Leon's difficult death during pandemic isolation in rural central Texas, and Babette's reflections and surprises after his death.
- GenresMemoirNonfiction
296 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 2024
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April 10, 2024
By penning "This Familiar Heart", Babette Fraser Hale has written what she calls "an improbable love story." But more than that, she has honored a final request from her dying husband Leon Hale.
Leon Hale was an acclaimed columnist and author. His career spanned several decades and even after retirement from work as a columnist for Houston papers he continued to be a published author for many years.
Babette Fraser (Hale) was an aspiring writer when she first met Hale (she almost never referred to him by his first name ... but rather, just "Hale.") She wasn't looking to kindle a relationship. She reached out to him to ask for a bit of help with her writing.
Neither of them were prepared for the journey that would ensue over the years. And perhaps that's the beauty in this story. They were able to allow their relationship to grow despite their individual pasts. In many ways this union was highly improbable. For starters, he as more than twenty years her senior. He was a "country boy" and she was a "city girl." Each were products of more than one or two failed relationships. The relationship was fraught with self-doubt, previous disappointments and all manner of "baggage." But it was also buoyed by the exhilaration of enjoying the little things all over again - as if for the first time.
A casual correspondence and seemingly inconsequential sit down eventually led to a lifetime together. Perhaps one of the key lifelines to that relationship was in the letters they wrote to one another. In other words, the honest communication they shared. Letters between the two of them revealed their innermost thoughts, fears, trepidations and joys. They were able to be open and honest in ways that sometimes seemed too difficult in face to face conversation. It is through many of those letters that readers get to know both Leon and Babette Hale. The letters had been saved and Babette graciously shares some of them (in their original unedited form she points out) within the pages of her memoir. The letters portray the raw humanity of the two in ways no amount of narrative could ever do.
Over the course of their relationship they moved (not always effortlessly, but always in motion) from courtship to partnership to marriage. Babette writes that their compatibility became "as natural as breath." And, she writes, "beneath surface differences [they] shared emotional resonance in response to old things." The depth of their love and commitment is so honestly and beautifully portrayed as Babette writes "... a marriage is created in the imagination. It's built from dream, hope, belief, trust, and the stories we tell, held together by memory, chemistry, and the fact of its existence, over time."
Leon proposed in 1990. When they married, he was 69, she 46. They spent three full decades as husband and wife. Babette poignantly writes that they lived happily thereafter - at least for as long as he was alive.
In the midst of the COVID pandemic and its requisite isolation, Hale's health declined steadily. Diagnosed with cancer, he declined curative treatment in lieu of palliative/hospice care. Babette was supportive of his decision and advocated for only what was best for him. As a retired hospice nurse, I found it difficult to read some of the interactions she had with hospice - interactions that could have, perhaps gone differently, been more compassionate, provided more comfort. I wish that she and Hale could have been the beneficiaries of a different sort of experience.
Hale died in March of 2021 at the age of 99. Babette writes that "right before he died it seemed to me that I had been the fortunate recipient of nearly forty years of the happiest partnership and marriage I could have imagined. We were so easy together, so compatible, so complimentary. We had so much fun together, enjoyed each other's differences, grew from them... he grounded me in his calm, his ease; he settled me, gave me confidence in myself. He loved me fully. I was sure of it. And I loved him, without reservation."
Part of grieving is heart work that goes on long after the loved one passes. This Familiar Heart honored Hale's request, and in turn provided a road map for some of Babette's grief work. No doubt that work will continue for a long time. In the meantime, she can rest in the knowledge that she has given Hale a beautiful piece of her heart in this endeavor. And perhaps, just perhaps, she has also helped light the way for others who find themselves working through their own grief. Or maybe she has given hope to those who have long been doubting whether or not true love exists any more - or if it is possible in advanced years.
This may well have been a "very improbable love story." But, for me, it is also one of the most beautiful, honest and poignant love stories I've had the privilege of reading in a very long time.
Leon Hale was an acclaimed columnist and author. His career spanned several decades and even after retirement from work as a columnist for Houston papers he continued to be a published author for many years.
Babette Fraser (Hale) was an aspiring writer when she first met Hale (she almost never referred to him by his first name ... but rather, just "Hale.") She wasn't looking to kindle a relationship. She reached out to him to ask for a bit of help with her writing.
Neither of them were prepared for the journey that would ensue over the years. And perhaps that's the beauty in this story. They were able to allow their relationship to grow despite their individual pasts. In many ways this union was highly improbable. For starters, he as more than twenty years her senior. He was a "country boy" and she was a "city girl." Each were products of more than one or two failed relationships. The relationship was fraught with self-doubt, previous disappointments and all manner of "baggage." But it was also buoyed by the exhilaration of enjoying the little things all over again - as if for the first time.
A casual correspondence and seemingly inconsequential sit down eventually led to a lifetime together. Perhaps one of the key lifelines to that relationship was in the letters they wrote to one another. In other words, the honest communication they shared. Letters between the two of them revealed their innermost thoughts, fears, trepidations and joys. They were able to be open and honest in ways that sometimes seemed too difficult in face to face conversation. It is through many of those letters that readers get to know both Leon and Babette Hale. The letters had been saved and Babette graciously shares some of them (in their original unedited form she points out) within the pages of her memoir. The letters portray the raw humanity of the two in ways no amount of narrative could ever do.
Over the course of their relationship they moved (not always effortlessly, but always in motion) from courtship to partnership to marriage. Babette writes that their compatibility became "as natural as breath." And, she writes, "beneath surface differences [they] shared emotional resonance in response to old things." The depth of their love and commitment is so honestly and beautifully portrayed as Babette writes "... a marriage is created in the imagination. It's built from dream, hope, belief, trust, and the stories we tell, held together by memory, chemistry, and the fact of its existence, over time."
Leon proposed in 1990. When they married, he was 69, she 46. They spent three full decades as husband and wife. Babette poignantly writes that they lived happily thereafter - at least for as long as he was alive.
In the midst of the COVID pandemic and its requisite isolation, Hale's health declined steadily. Diagnosed with cancer, he declined curative treatment in lieu of palliative/hospice care. Babette was supportive of his decision and advocated for only what was best for him. As a retired hospice nurse, I found it difficult to read some of the interactions she had with hospice - interactions that could have, perhaps gone differently, been more compassionate, provided more comfort. I wish that she and Hale could have been the beneficiaries of a different sort of experience.
Hale died in March of 2021 at the age of 99. Babette writes that "right before he died it seemed to me that I had been the fortunate recipient of nearly forty years of the happiest partnership and marriage I could have imagined. We were so easy together, so compatible, so complimentary. We had so much fun together, enjoyed each other's differences, grew from them... he grounded me in his calm, his ease; he settled me, gave me confidence in myself. He loved me fully. I was sure of it. And I loved him, without reservation."
Part of grieving is heart work that goes on long after the loved one passes. This Familiar Heart honored Hale's request, and in turn provided a road map for some of Babette's grief work. No doubt that work will continue for a long time. In the meantime, she can rest in the knowledge that she has given Hale a beautiful piece of her heart in this endeavor. And perhaps, just perhaps, she has also helped light the way for others who find themselves working through their own grief. Or maybe she has given hope to those who have long been doubting whether or not true love exists any more - or if it is possible in advanced years.
This may well have been a "very improbable love story." But, for me, it is also one of the most beautiful, honest and poignant love stories I've had the privilege of reading in a very long time.
March 27, 2024
I grew up in Houston, and spent my entire life reading Leon Hale’s columns in the Houston Post and Houston Chronicle, and in his final years on Facebook. Having also enjoyed Babette Fraser Hale’s A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers, I was doubly interested in reading this story of their life together.
The book’s subtitle, An Improbable Love Story, is on point. Ms. Hale quickly pulls me into the plot when she begins the story at the end of Mr. Hale’s life, when he urges her to “write about me”. A young writer asking to meet a famous Houston columnist 23 years her senior, in the hope of hearing a ‘Texas voice’ that will aid her in her work, certainly did begin an unusual and unexpected journey for this couple.
In the recounting of their years of courtship, beginning with the “Discovery” phase of the book, I found much I could identify with in Ms. Hale’s expression of doubts and fears. A woman of any age can understand questioning whether love is real, whether she is “the one” after his years as a single man, whether the age difference matters and whether her having grown up in River Oaks matters. Her frank sharing of her thoughts, coupled with the correspondence they shared back and forth, makes for a compelling read.
Their partnership develops further in the eight years of what Ms. Hale describes as “Partnership”, a period during which Leon Hale negotiates his fear of marrying for a third time against his fear of being alone. Once married (he was 69, she was 46), their 30 years together is summarized as living happily ever after, but with that happiness comes the usual travails of health and the aging process. Leon Hale’s death just shy of age 100, in large part due to the effects of the Covid pandemic, still came as a shock, and Ms. Hale’s sharing of her battle with the grieving process is recommended reading for women who, myself included, will likely be widowed in the future.
Ms. Hale’s writing style makes for pleasant and easy reading. In addition to sharing her most intimate thoughts, joys and doubts, she includes quotes from Leon Hale’s columns and books that add depth and perspective to their story. Although I knew how the story would end, going along on the journey was very rewarding. I highly recommend this book.
The book’s subtitle, An Improbable Love Story, is on point. Ms. Hale quickly pulls me into the plot when she begins the story at the end of Mr. Hale’s life, when he urges her to “write about me”. A young writer asking to meet a famous Houston columnist 23 years her senior, in the hope of hearing a ‘Texas voice’ that will aid her in her work, certainly did begin an unusual and unexpected journey for this couple.
In the recounting of their years of courtship, beginning with the “Discovery” phase of the book, I found much I could identify with in Ms. Hale’s expression of doubts and fears. A woman of any age can understand questioning whether love is real, whether she is “the one” after his years as a single man, whether the age difference matters and whether her having grown up in River Oaks matters. Her frank sharing of her thoughts, coupled with the correspondence they shared back and forth, makes for a compelling read.
Their partnership develops further in the eight years of what Ms. Hale describes as “Partnership”, a period during which Leon Hale negotiates his fear of marrying for a third time against his fear of being alone. Once married (he was 69, she was 46), their 30 years together is summarized as living happily ever after, but with that happiness comes the usual travails of health and the aging process. Leon Hale’s death just shy of age 100, in large part due to the effects of the Covid pandemic, still came as a shock, and Ms. Hale’s sharing of her battle with the grieving process is recommended reading for women who, myself included, will likely be widowed in the future.
Ms. Hale’s writing style makes for pleasant and easy reading. In addition to sharing her most intimate thoughts, joys and doubts, she includes quotes from Leon Hale’s columns and books that add depth and perspective to their story. Although I knew how the story would end, going along on the journey was very rewarding. I highly recommend this book.
April 9, 2024
This Familiar Heart by Babette Hale takes us on a journey of infatuation, love, and all the good things in life that we dream willl be gifted to us. The entire book is a gift to commemorate one of the greatest love stories I have ever seen. This remarkable pair is inspirational and comfortable. I cherish this book.
Read
March 21, 2024"Promise you'll write about me", Hale whispered to Babette as he was dying at age 99. And so Babette did write an intensely personal story of their unlikely relationship in "This Familiar Heart".
Before the internet era, there was letter-writing. Love of words is what first connected Babette Fraser and Leon Hale in 1981 - written expression and time is what fused this improbable couple, heart to familiar heart.
In June 1981, Hale was a 60-year-old columnist for The Houston Post and Babette, a 36-year-old graduate student in creative writing. To better express the Texas voice in her writing, she wrote a letter to Leon Hale, a local columnist whose literary voice is just that - Texas born and raised. Hale responded and the improbable relationship began, at first collegial and soon intimate.
"This Familiar Heart" is a chronicle of love overcoming all obstables, including overwhelming grief when they must finally part after almost 40 years together. There is no better testimony of finding the Love of One's Life and honoring it.
Before the internet era, there was letter-writing. Love of words is what first connected Babette Fraser and Leon Hale in 1981 - written expression and time is what fused this improbable couple, heart to familiar heart.
In June 1981, Hale was a 60-year-old columnist for The Houston Post and Babette, a 36-year-old graduate student in creative writing. To better express the Texas voice in her writing, she wrote a letter to Leon Hale, a local columnist whose literary voice is just that - Texas born and raised. Hale responded and the improbable relationship began, at first collegial and soon intimate.
"This Familiar Heart" is a chronicle of love overcoming all obstables, including overwhelming grief when they must finally part after almost 40 years together. There is no better testimony of finding the Love of One's Life and honoring it.
Read
April 22, 2024Reviewing memoirs – especially deeply personal stories like This Familiar Heart – can be tricky. Too easily we fall into the habit of judging the life and choices presented to us. But this isn't fiction, and cannot be examined the same way.
If this book were fiction, it would be an amazing story. The characters are erudite and earthy at once, and the pace of this love story is perfect. The author draws you in as her tale goes spiraling from a letter to meeting to several more encounters, to sex and love and a partnership that is ended by death and grief.
But since this book, this story, is a memoir, I won't talk more about the events, but rather the way author Babette Fraser Hale has chosen to present them, which she has done beautifully.
I loved the way she told her origin story with the man who preferred to be called "Hale," rather than his first name, as a creative non-fiction exercise, interspersed with her notes from the perspective of "after." The noted are italicized so you cannot mistake them for the narrative, but they do more than add future knowledge. They color the narrative with all the years, experiences, and feelings since the initial occurrences.
Babette's (I use her first name to distinguish her from the Hale she writes about) language is also beautiful, full of evocative phrases like, "The day spreads out around them as they walk," or "His mouth and tongue study her body, but it is in no way enough, and it is also too much," and "We have been erased, as completely as our house itself, or more completely, perhaps."
This is the kind of writing that inspires me to wander around the house reading passages aloud to my husband, the dogs, myself – it doesn't matter. This is the kind of writing that sits with you, long after you've finished.
So, while this story, which begins with two people falling in love and ends with love torn apart, covers some decidedly not-beautiful details - death is never pretty – the book itself is beautiful. And brilliant.
Goes well with: canned soup and candlelight.
If this book were fiction, it would be an amazing story. The characters are erudite and earthy at once, and the pace of this love story is perfect. The author draws you in as her tale goes spiraling from a letter to meeting to several more encounters, to sex and love and a partnership that is ended by death and grief.
But since this book, this story, is a memoir, I won't talk more about the events, but rather the way author Babette Fraser Hale has chosen to present them, which she has done beautifully.
I loved the way she told her origin story with the man who preferred to be called "Hale," rather than his first name, as a creative non-fiction exercise, interspersed with her notes from the perspective of "after." The noted are italicized so you cannot mistake them for the narrative, but they do more than add future knowledge. They color the narrative with all the years, experiences, and feelings since the initial occurrences.
Babette's (I use her first name to distinguish her from the Hale she writes about) language is also beautiful, full of evocative phrases like, "The day spreads out around them as they walk," or "His mouth and tongue study her body, but it is in no way enough, and it is also too much," and "We have been erased, as completely as our house itself, or more completely, perhaps."
This is the kind of writing that inspires me to wander around the house reading passages aloud to my husband, the dogs, myself – it doesn't matter. This is the kind of writing that sits with you, long after you've finished.
So, while this story, which begins with two people falling in love and ends with love torn apart, covers some decidedly not-beautiful details - death is never pretty – the book itself is beautiful. And brilliant.
Goes well with: canned soup and candlelight.
September 4, 2024
Nicely written, Hale realistically analyzes the relationship of two wounded souls, following its course for forty years.
February 13, 2024
The memoir seems to be a heartfelt exploration of the challenges of expressing grief and a poignant reflection on the enduring nature of love. The account is a heartbreaking articulation of the struggle to write the words about grief and a heart mending reflection on how we never lose the people we love.
It begins with the meeting of two individuals who, despite their age difference, form a deep connection. On all fronts it appears going well for the two. After both experienced failed marriage/relationships yet this one is a gem for both, and they strive to make it work.
As noted in the beginning of the narrative when Leon is on his deathbed, he instructs his wife, Babette to write about him. ‘Of course, you will write about me.’ This request reflects his belief that their love story is worth telling and should be remembered.
The story beautifully captures their relationship, starting in the 1980s, and serves as a reflection of the times and the city of Houston. It explores themes of love, turmoil, and ultimately, triumph.
A great read if you lived in Houston during this time and were a fan of Leon Hale’s column in the Houston Post and later the Houston Chronicle. Fun to reflect to that simple time before electronics that afforded you instant communication with texts and emails. Their love story is told through the letters, yes letters that were written back and forth to each other. In reading you can imagine the relaxed way of communicating where the author is collecting her/his thoughts in writing the letters. And then in turn seeing the recipient reading the letters. In some cases, letters crossed each other in transient.
Highly recommend to a ‘local’ from Houston as well as to anyone losing a love of your life. Reading this memoir has a unique way of speaking to our souls and allowing us to connect with our innermost thoughts and feelings. It can provide comfort, healing, and a sense of catharsis should you be dealing with difficult times after losing a loved one.
It begins with the meeting of two individuals who, despite their age difference, form a deep connection. On all fronts it appears going well for the two. After both experienced failed marriage/relationships yet this one is a gem for both, and they strive to make it work.
As noted in the beginning of the narrative when Leon is on his deathbed, he instructs his wife, Babette to write about him. ‘Of course, you will write about me.’ This request reflects his belief that their love story is worth telling and should be remembered.
The story beautifully captures their relationship, starting in the 1980s, and serves as a reflection of the times and the city of Houston. It explores themes of love, turmoil, and ultimately, triumph.
A great read if you lived in Houston during this time and were a fan of Leon Hale’s column in the Houston Post and later the Houston Chronicle. Fun to reflect to that simple time before electronics that afforded you instant communication with texts and emails. Their love story is told through the letters, yes letters that were written back and forth to each other. In reading you can imagine the relaxed way of communicating where the author is collecting her/his thoughts in writing the letters. And then in turn seeing the recipient reading the letters. In some cases, letters crossed each other in transient.
Highly recommend to a ‘local’ from Houston as well as to anyone losing a love of your life. Reading this memoir has a unique way of speaking to our souls and allowing us to connect with our innermost thoughts and feelings. It can provide comfort, healing, and a sense of catharsis should you be dealing with difficult times after losing a loved one.
April 18, 2024
As the synopsis states, This Familiar Heart is about a husband and wife, as told from the wife's perspective after losing him. It's cozy, it's heartbreaking, it's everything you might expect it to be, and yet nothing at all that COULD be expected. It's a love story, it's a healing story, it's a story of loss, it's a story of hope. While it is predominantly non-fiction, it IS treated early on as a story, before the frame of reference changes for the later stages of the couple's lives.
Babette Hale recounts meeting Leon Hale, how their friendship and relationship developed, and the challenges they both faced in becoming emotionally intimate. After the introductory elements, the book is narrated distantly, with two characters: Babette and Leon. It is told from an intimate third-person viewpoint before it shifts back to first-person. I have never read a book that does this for a memoir of sorts, but this book does it exceedingly well.
The life Babette and Leon shared feels like a story. Both struggled with relationships in earlier parts of their life and both had personal challenges they needed to reflect on and challenge for themselves - even though they ultimately found what they needed in each other. It's a beautiful narrative with ups and down, and the messiness that comes with real feelings and life changes. I loved that even though it could seem like a fictional tale at times, it was easy to know it wasn't - because of the depth of the emotions.
250 pages in is where I started to struggle, but that's largely on me and I expected it to happen. I don't do well with sad events and reflections and grief and loss. It hits me VERY hard and times - and it should. Things like this are supposed to. They're never easy. That being said, this is the point where other readers like me will likely also struggle to hold things together and continue on. Nonetheless, I urge you to continue. It's emotionally difficult, but it's worth it. Babette's voice is one that should be heard and that may be helpful to others suffering their own losses.
All in all, I greatly enjoyed this book, even with its more emotionally difficult moments. It was a beautiful reflection of a life well-lived and a heart-rending love. It wasn't expected, it wasn't typical, but it's incredible to read about. If you can push through the grief aspects as a reader, I recommend this book. It won't be a read for everyone at any time, but it's certainly worth giving a try if one is willing and prepared for it.
Babette Hale recounts meeting Leon Hale, how their friendship and relationship developed, and the challenges they both faced in becoming emotionally intimate. After the introductory elements, the book is narrated distantly, with two characters: Babette and Leon. It is told from an intimate third-person viewpoint before it shifts back to first-person. I have never read a book that does this for a memoir of sorts, but this book does it exceedingly well.
The life Babette and Leon shared feels like a story. Both struggled with relationships in earlier parts of their life and both had personal challenges they needed to reflect on and challenge for themselves - even though they ultimately found what they needed in each other. It's a beautiful narrative with ups and down, and the messiness that comes with real feelings and life changes. I loved that even though it could seem like a fictional tale at times, it was easy to know it wasn't - because of the depth of the emotions.
250 pages in is where I started to struggle, but that's largely on me and I expected it to happen. I don't do well with sad events and reflections and grief and loss. It hits me VERY hard and times - and it should. Things like this are supposed to. They're never easy. That being said, this is the point where other readers like me will likely also struggle to hold things together and continue on. Nonetheless, I urge you to continue. It's emotionally difficult, but it's worth it. Babette's voice is one that should be heard and that may be helpful to others suffering their own losses.
All in all, I greatly enjoyed this book, even with its more emotionally difficult moments. It was a beautiful reflection of a life well-lived and a heart-rending love. It wasn't expected, it wasn't typical, but it's incredible to read about. If you can push through the grief aspects as a reader, I recommend this book. It won't be a read for everyone at any time, but it's certainly worth giving a try if one is willing and prepared for it.
April 23, 2024
Genuine, heartfelt, and compelling.
This Familiar Heart by Babette Fraser Hale is a wonderful memoir and tribute to an enduring love between two people who needed to find each other and were lucky enough to do so. Built on memories of their life together by the surviving spouse and supplemented by personal letters exchanged and kept, as well as other works by these two accomplished writers, Babette’s story exudes an openness and honesty that are more genuine than other works of this kind.
Not much time has passed since Hale’s death, and there is still a rawness to Babette’s narrative that sometimes peeks through. The book opens with his entering hospice care and his quick decline and passing. (This mirrors my own experiences with loved ones’ end-of-life journeys, and the memories of those times are still ones of surprise.) I thought the author’s ability to relate this recent experience was an amazing feat. I believe memoirs, in general, have got to be one of the more difficult and courageous forms of expression if purely done. This memoir is also an act of love; Hale had asked Babette to write about him, and she does so in full living color, good times and tough ones.But while some of their story is heavily emotional, there is a lot of loving and fun. Their improbable meeting is initiated by a fan letter and an unusual request from a younger writer to one more seasoned. Their meeting and early days completely enamored me: their uncertainty with each other, their nervousness, the push-pull, and the highly relatable heady feeling of first passion and obsession with each other every minute of every day.
Babette’s story will strike a chord with many readers: the fans of Hale’s column, those who have loved and lost a loved partner, those who needed medical help during the pandemic but couldn’t get what was readily available in the before-time, those who have gone through hospice with a loved one, to name a few. While it may resonate a little too emotionally with readers who have recently experienced their loss, I recommend THIS FAMILIAR HEART to all the above and readers looking for a genuine memoir of love, loss, and loving tribute.I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Book Blog Tours.
April 27, 2024
The bravery to lay oneself vulnerable in sharing something so personal amazes me. The fluidity and lyricism in the language is astounding and truly enviable. It’s a privilege to get a close glimpse into the lives of such remarkable people as Leon Hale and Babette Fraser Hale.
Read the full review on my blog Carpe Diem Chronicles at maidamalby.com
Read the full review on my blog Carpe Diem Chronicles at maidamalby.com
November 29, 2023
Babette Fraser Hale’s latest book, entitled This Familiar Heart, appears at first to evoke a sort of seventies Love Story theme. That movie, starring Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neil, though one of the best box office hits of its time, was criticized for its “hollow lines.” Hale’s book, based on her romance and later marriage to Leon Hale, a beloved columnist for Houston newspapers for over sixty years, is much more honest and ten times as electric. The cover warns that this book is “an improbable love story.” It truly is quite unbelievable, but what a loving tribute and beautiful exposé of over forty years of partnership between two writers—two writers who married when Babette was forty-six with a young son and Leon was sixty-nine, trying to shake his habit of cutting and running when things got tough in a relationship.
Leon, a man conscious of his fibrous dysplasia, a condition that affected his eyes and facial symmetry, comes across as a sort of lovable cat of nine lives. After he survived two bouts of cancer, a terrible car crash, and two previous marriages, along comes Babette. She is a young, talented beauty who pursues this man whose persona, as his readers are well aware, is averse to wealth, privilege, and “her kind” of people from River Oaks. This irony is never lost on Leon. In fact, it haunts him for years. He wonders how his readers would react if they knew he was dating such a young former socialite. He is aware that guests and acquaintances are often wondering what the two see in each other.
This love story is filled with the wisdom of Babette Fraser Hale, who, at being left alone for maybe the first time in her life, writes: “…it seemed to me that I had been the fortunate recipient of nearly forty years of the happiest partnership and marriage I could have imagined.” For this couple, love didn’t mean “never having to say you’re sorry.” Rather, it meant apologizing and figuring out how to make things better. Babette is wracked with doubts and frustrations while trying to do the right things in Leon’s final days, but there are challenges, including care during the Covid-19 pandemic and what seems to be an untimely, rather late, cancer diagnosis. Leon was ninety-nine years and ten months at the time of his passing.
I highly recommend this book to mature women. The reader will be whisked away on various escapades with the couple as well as tormented by wondering if this relationship can ever work. Babette Fraser Hale manages to tell both sides of their stories with skill and empathy. Although the writing may seem to lose direction momentarily toward the end, this parallels the heart and mind of a surviving spouse who has just lost the love of her life. It is understandable.
Babette Fraser Hale is the author of A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers, 2022 winner of the debut fiction award from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her stories have received notice from Best American Short Stories, 2015 and the Meyerson Award from Southwest Review. In addition to writing fiction, she has been a magazine feature writer, columnist, contributing editor, book editor and publisher. She lives in Texas.
Categories: Memoir and Autobiography
StoryCircleBookReviews has received a copy of this book for review from the author, publisher, or publicist. We have received no other compensation.
January 5, 2024
Candid and compelling, This Familiar Heart by Babette Fraser Hale engages the reader from page one with an opening line, a request, from a dying man. The rest of the book is the author’s response and her promise to him. But for her to write about him, she had to write about herself too. For she was part of his story. This is their story.
He was a legendary Texas newspaperman and author of several books. By the time they met, Leon Hale was sixty years old with decades of living under his belt. He’d been married twice and had a couple of grown kids. His popular column appealed to both rural and urban readers alike. She was thirty-six, a former debutante turned writer from an affluent Houston neighborhood. She grew up seeing his photo and byline in the big city newspaper, but Babette Fraser didn’t start reading his work until after she was newly divorced with a young son to raise.
It was 1981.
After she started reading his column, she realized she was drawn to Leon Hale’s voice (an authentic Texas voice that rang true in his printed stories). She decided to write him a letter and tell him. As a seasoned professional writer, Leon Hale was used to hearing from aspiring young writers asking for help on how to get published, but this letter from a female resident of the tony neighborhood, River Oaks, was different. Babette Fraser wasn’t asking for help on how to land an agent or get a book deal, she was asking for something else entirely. Something so simple and yet such a surprise that Leon Hale had to call her.
They arranged a meeting in a public place. For all his celebrity, Leon Hale appeared shy in some ways. He had a quiet charisma about him, what Babette would come to call his aura. Despite their age difference––he was nearly twenty-four years her senior––they fit together although their relationship early on raised eyebrows. They proved all the skeptics wrong and were together for forty years.
The book is divided into four parts: Beginning, Discovery, Partnership, and After. Early in their relationship, there’s a touching scene that takes place in the tiny kitchen of Hale’s apartment in Houston. This is one of those quiet, romantic moments in the book that will stay with me a long time. It involves the simple things of life: a can soup, music playing from a transistor radio, and those first steps that led to two improbable hearts forging a life together.
This is not a one-sided recollection, but a story crafted so beautifully and seamlessly by a skilled writer who lets both voices come shining through. Babette is brutally honest and doesn’t gloss over some of the more difficult parts of their relationship. Shortly after Hale’s death, she found something that caused her to question everything about their relationship. One little item that planted so much doubt. The author handles these passages with grace. I admire her for including them.
This Familiar Heart is textured with layers of conversational prose, letters, and observations by the author and her beloved Leon Hale. From the opening pages, I wanted to immerse myself in their story, even though I knew it would end in loss.
I highly recommend it.
I thank the author’s publicist, Stephanie Barko, for sending me an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
~ Kathleen M. Rodgers, a 2021 WILLA Literary Award Finalist
He was a legendary Texas newspaperman and author of several books. By the time they met, Leon Hale was sixty years old with decades of living under his belt. He’d been married twice and had a couple of grown kids. His popular column appealed to both rural and urban readers alike. She was thirty-six, a former debutante turned writer from an affluent Houston neighborhood. She grew up seeing his photo and byline in the big city newspaper, but Babette Fraser didn’t start reading his work until after she was newly divorced with a young son to raise.
It was 1981.
After she started reading his column, she realized she was drawn to Leon Hale’s voice (an authentic Texas voice that rang true in his printed stories). She decided to write him a letter and tell him. As a seasoned professional writer, Leon Hale was used to hearing from aspiring young writers asking for help on how to get published, but this letter from a female resident of the tony neighborhood, River Oaks, was different. Babette Fraser wasn’t asking for help on how to land an agent or get a book deal, she was asking for something else entirely. Something so simple and yet such a surprise that Leon Hale had to call her.
They arranged a meeting in a public place. For all his celebrity, Leon Hale appeared shy in some ways. He had a quiet charisma about him, what Babette would come to call his aura. Despite their age difference––he was nearly twenty-four years her senior––they fit together although their relationship early on raised eyebrows. They proved all the skeptics wrong and were together for forty years.
The book is divided into four parts: Beginning, Discovery, Partnership, and After. Early in their relationship, there’s a touching scene that takes place in the tiny kitchen of Hale’s apartment in Houston. This is one of those quiet, romantic moments in the book that will stay with me a long time. It involves the simple things of life: a can soup, music playing from a transistor radio, and those first steps that led to two improbable hearts forging a life together.
This is not a one-sided recollection, but a story crafted so beautifully and seamlessly by a skilled writer who lets both voices come shining through. Babette is brutally honest and doesn’t gloss over some of the more difficult parts of their relationship. Shortly after Hale’s death, she found something that caused her to question everything about their relationship. One little item that planted so much doubt. The author handles these passages with grace. I admire her for including them.
This Familiar Heart is textured with layers of conversational prose, letters, and observations by the author and her beloved Leon Hale. From the opening pages, I wanted to immerse myself in their story, even though I knew it would end in loss.
I highly recommend it.
I thank the author’s publicist, Stephanie Barko, for sending me an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
~ Kathleen M. Rodgers, a 2021 WILLA Literary Award Finalist
April 7, 2024
The vows spoken during the marriage ceremony speak to a couple’s promises to each other while they share a life. Leon Hale’s valediction to his beloved wife was a promise to be kept after he left her world. He wanted Babette to reveal a part of him to a reading audience. Hale had lived a full life, yet his death in 2021 at age 99 still shook Babette. Her relationship with him spanned 40 years, and while there were many wonderful memories, the prospect of writing them down was slightly challenging.
In 1981, Leon Hale was an acclaimed columnist at The Houston Post and a respected author. Babette Fraser was a budding writer working on a novel and sought Hale’s assistance on her project. A letter from Babette led to a phone call from Hale, and the pair soon agreed to get together to talk and get acquainted. There was a spark within their introduction, and another meet-up was planned. Their relationship had commenced on a platonic level, but there was an underlying intensity.
Hale and Babette were guarded to a certain extent. They were emerging from the fallout of broken relationships. Each possessed doubt about how they handled their previous romances. Yet they found themselves falling for each other with each phone conversation, exchanged letter or time they spent together.
The fall of 1981 witnessed the growing pains of a blooming romance. As Hale and Babette became further acquainted with each other, happiness from one day would turn into a day fraught with anxiety. Was Hale capable of settling down with one woman? Would Hale’s friends accept Babette? Would Babette’s son accept Hale coming into his mother’s life? These thoughts would bounce through their minds, but they also would communicate them with the other. A mutual understanding of each other’s personality would prove key to making things work.
Ultimately, their relationship may have been atypical with regard to age difference and backgrounds, but the love they had for each other was transcendent and lasting.
THIS FAMILIAR HEART is an unforgettable love story about an unlikely couple whose feelings were impassioned and, despite any initial hesitancy, forged a loving bond that lasted decades. Babette Fraser Hale has written a captivating book that does more than limit itself to the love she shared with her late husband. She provides an introspective view of the early days of their relationship and their mindsets. The backstory to their first meeting proves vital. Hale is a charismatic Southern gentleman with a heart of gold, and Babette is a woman with internal and external beauty. Their history has had its ups and downs, but fate has seen fit to bring them into contact. However, it is up to them to determine if their love will be everlasting.
Despite knowing the poignant conclusion, the winding road to that point is gratifying from start to finish. Babette Fraser Hale has written a book of emotional depth and warmth that should find a wide audience.
Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro
In 1981, Leon Hale was an acclaimed columnist at The Houston Post and a respected author. Babette Fraser was a budding writer working on a novel and sought Hale’s assistance on her project. A letter from Babette led to a phone call from Hale, and the pair soon agreed to get together to talk and get acquainted. There was a spark within their introduction, and another meet-up was planned. Their relationship had commenced on a platonic level, but there was an underlying intensity.
Hale and Babette were guarded to a certain extent. They were emerging from the fallout of broken relationships. Each possessed doubt about how they handled their previous romances. Yet they found themselves falling for each other with each phone conversation, exchanged letter or time they spent together.
The fall of 1981 witnessed the growing pains of a blooming romance. As Hale and Babette became further acquainted with each other, happiness from one day would turn into a day fraught with anxiety. Was Hale capable of settling down with one woman? Would Hale’s friends accept Babette? Would Babette’s son accept Hale coming into his mother’s life? These thoughts would bounce through their minds, but they also would communicate them with the other. A mutual understanding of each other’s personality would prove key to making things work.
Ultimately, their relationship may have been atypical with regard to age difference and backgrounds, but the love they had for each other was transcendent and lasting.
THIS FAMILIAR HEART is an unforgettable love story about an unlikely couple whose feelings were impassioned and, despite any initial hesitancy, forged a loving bond that lasted decades. Babette Fraser Hale has written a captivating book that does more than limit itself to the love she shared with her late husband. She provides an introspective view of the early days of their relationship and their mindsets. The backstory to their first meeting proves vital. Hale is a charismatic Southern gentleman with a heart of gold, and Babette is a woman with internal and external beauty. Their history has had its ups and downs, but fate has seen fit to bring them into contact. However, it is up to them to determine if their love will be everlasting.
Despite knowing the poignant conclusion, the winding road to that point is gratifying from start to finish. Babette Fraser Hale has written a book of emotional depth and warmth that should find a wide audience.
Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro
April 22, 2024
What a wonderfully written, poignant memoir and love story. The book reads like a novel and is incredibly hard to put down once started.
The author wrote from her heart, and I admire her honesty in sharing everything about her courtship and relationship with Houston columnist, Leon Hale. The years they had together weren’t always easy in real life, and I’m sure there were parts of their story that weren’t easy to write about. I especially enjoyed reading about how they both came to understand each other and the nuances of interactions that clarified points that had been troublesome. For instance how Babette realized that because Hale was such a good listener women often mistook that for flirtation. His interest in other women was a major sticking point in the early years of their courtship.
A memoir asks a writer to open her life and her heart for the readers, and that takes a great deal of courage. Ms. Hale has my respect for doing just that. From what I could tell, she didn’t hold anything back, including the truth about her past relationships, his past, and the new wonderings about their relationship after he died.
Hale was certainly an interesting and complex man, and Babette came to understand that he had this inherent need to always be on the move, which is why he often just left with no explanation. As she put it “The women who loved Hale, however, were left at
home with their imaginations.”
It was that aspect of their relationship that was perhaps the hardest for them both to come to terms with and be totally honest about all the ramifications it brought to their life together. The building of a lasting partnership comes through that slow realization of the truth about themselves – and each other. It was nice to share that journey with Hale and Babette and see how they came to an acceptance of each other, flaws and all.
The author made a wise choice in using the letters they’d written to each other as jumping off points for the narrative, as it seems they were both able to express their thoughts more easily with words on paper. Perhaps that’s because they were both writers, and writers tend to process many things in life by putting pen to paper.
This quote taken from one of the later chapters is such a lovely testament to their love. It reflects how they navigated the bumps in the road toward being a couple in a committed partnership. “Over time I think several changes were involved. One of them relates to the bond we formed, the way we answered each other’s loneliness.”
I truly enjoyed reading This Familiar Heart, and by the end I had a sense of knowing both of these people perhaps as deeply as they came to know each other.
The author wrote from her heart, and I admire her honesty in sharing everything about her courtship and relationship with Houston columnist, Leon Hale. The years they had together weren’t always easy in real life, and I’m sure there were parts of their story that weren’t easy to write about. I especially enjoyed reading about how they both came to understand each other and the nuances of interactions that clarified points that had been troublesome. For instance how Babette realized that because Hale was such a good listener women often mistook that for flirtation. His interest in other women was a major sticking point in the early years of their courtship.
A memoir asks a writer to open her life and her heart for the readers, and that takes a great deal of courage. Ms. Hale has my respect for doing just that. From what I could tell, she didn’t hold anything back, including the truth about her past relationships, his past, and the new wonderings about their relationship after he died.
Hale was certainly an interesting and complex man, and Babette came to understand that he had this inherent need to always be on the move, which is why he often just left with no explanation. As she put it “The women who loved Hale, however, were left at
home with their imaginations.”
It was that aspect of their relationship that was perhaps the hardest for them both to come to terms with and be totally honest about all the ramifications it brought to their life together. The building of a lasting partnership comes through that slow realization of the truth about themselves – and each other. It was nice to share that journey with Hale and Babette and see how they came to an acceptance of each other, flaws and all.
The author made a wise choice in using the letters they’d written to each other as jumping off points for the narrative, as it seems they were both able to express their thoughts more easily with words on paper. Perhaps that’s because they were both writers, and writers tend to process many things in life by putting pen to paper.
This quote taken from one of the later chapters is such a lovely testament to their love. It reflects how they navigated the bumps in the road toward being a couple in a committed partnership. “Over time I think several changes were involved. One of them relates to the bond we formed, the way we answered each other’s loneliness.”
I truly enjoyed reading This Familiar Heart, and by the end I had a sense of knowing both of these people perhaps as deeply as they came to know each other.
April 25, 2024
This Familiar Heart is the story of Babette Fraser and Leon Hale. Hale, as he preferred to be called, first encountered Babette when she wrote a letter in response to his newspaper column. She was a writer, too, and she had a request that led to them meeting in person. Thus began the slow burn to a love that spanned decades.
Part love story, part memoir (and I’m not sure you can really separate the two), Babette Hale spins the tale of their lives growing together in third person, interspersed with snippets in first person – her commentary on things, if you will. The third person portions read like some of the best romantic fiction I’ve ever laid eyes on. These two people from very different backgrounds, different places in life, with a sizable age gap between them, and this marvelous love story grows from the smallest and most improbable of seeds. The way Babette describes the energy between her and Hale, the way he makes her feel, the language she uses is just luminous. Even when they have hard conversations, even when they’re sharing things they fear may drive them apart, the words are gentle. It’s like they both realize how deeply they care for each other and are trying not to wound, being mindful of the other’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities even before they’re really sure what direction their relationship is heading.
I really enjoyed their communication by letter. While my husband and I aren’t that dissimilar in upbringing or age, we were both divorced when we met. Like Hale, my divorce wasn’t yet final. We lived about 90 miles apart when we met (online!), and we both had jobs, and I had my young son, so we had to choose carefully when we’d burn up the road between us. We spent a lot of time writing emails to each other and talking on the phone (this was before unlimited talk and text was a thing, and I actually added him to my cell phone plan so we could talk for free! There, now I’m just dating myself). You learn a lot about a person through letters, and so it was for Hale and Babette. It’s easier sometimes to be open, both about how you really feel and about things you’re struggling with, in writing. You can choose your words carefully and particularly, and they did.
And while the ending was fraught with grief (and what is grief but love without its object?), I thought this was the best summing-up of a life well lived and loved that anyone could ask for:
“We were happy. How can a man and a woman together do better than that?”
From the story she gives us about their life, it certainly sounds like, through it all, Hale and Babette were happy. May we all be able to say that at the end of our best relationships.
Part love story, part memoir (and I’m not sure you can really separate the two), Babette Hale spins the tale of their lives growing together in third person, interspersed with snippets in first person – her commentary on things, if you will. The third person portions read like some of the best romantic fiction I’ve ever laid eyes on. These two people from very different backgrounds, different places in life, with a sizable age gap between them, and this marvelous love story grows from the smallest and most improbable of seeds. The way Babette describes the energy between her and Hale, the way he makes her feel, the language she uses is just luminous. Even when they have hard conversations, even when they’re sharing things they fear may drive them apart, the words are gentle. It’s like they both realize how deeply they care for each other and are trying not to wound, being mindful of the other’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities even before they’re really sure what direction their relationship is heading.
I really enjoyed their communication by letter. While my husband and I aren’t that dissimilar in upbringing or age, we were both divorced when we met. Like Hale, my divorce wasn’t yet final. We lived about 90 miles apart when we met (online!), and we both had jobs, and I had my young son, so we had to choose carefully when we’d burn up the road between us. We spent a lot of time writing emails to each other and talking on the phone (this was before unlimited talk and text was a thing, and I actually added him to my cell phone plan so we could talk for free! There, now I’m just dating myself). You learn a lot about a person through letters, and so it was for Hale and Babette. It’s easier sometimes to be open, both about how you really feel and about things you’re struggling with, in writing. You can choose your words carefully and particularly, and they did.
And while the ending was fraught with grief (and what is grief but love without its object?), I thought this was the best summing-up of a life well lived and loved that anyone could ask for:
“We were happy. How can a man and a woman together do better than that?”
From the story she gives us about their life, it certainly sounds like, through it all, Hale and Babette were happy. May we all be able to say that at the end of our best relationships.
March 15, 2024
I just finished reading Babette Fraser Hale’s This Familiar Heart, and very much enjoyed her memoir. Babette has a unique way of creating visual pictures that transport the reader into scenes, like being a fly on the wall. The book starts out with a flurry of end-of-life activities for the love of her life Leon Hale. I am reminded of the devastating consequences the pandemic brought on so many lives, and truly feel the sting of pain and consequences it had for Babette and Leon. The excruciating details toward the end of the book gripped at my heart and tugged at my emotions enough to partially experience the heartbreak Babette endured.
The book quickly shifts to the beginning of their relationship, which is charming to read. I loved the romanticness of letters being exchanged, the conversations they shared, and their intimate time spent together, much different than today’s high-tech texting world. I love that although their relationship was full of passion, respect, and companionship, their beginning was far from perfect. This couple faced many challenges and obstacles, but Babette and Leon always managed to find their way back to each other. I found it very relaxing to read about ordinary times spent together over something as simple as sharing a can of soup, and how the ordinary created extraordinary experiences and memories.
I appreciated the descriptive observations from their adventures in nature as well as the details of the places visited during their courtship. This helped me realize how often I get busy with “stuff” and forget to notice and take note of all the wonderful things around me. To sum it up, this book was a very comfortable read that was pleasant to my soul.
The book quickly shifts to the beginning of their relationship, which is charming to read. I loved the romanticness of letters being exchanged, the conversations they shared, and their intimate time spent together, much different than today’s high-tech texting world. I love that although their relationship was full of passion, respect, and companionship, their beginning was far from perfect. This couple faced many challenges and obstacles, but Babette and Leon always managed to find their way back to each other. I found it very relaxing to read about ordinary times spent together over something as simple as sharing a can of soup, and how the ordinary created extraordinary experiences and memories.
I appreciated the descriptive observations from their adventures in nature as well as the details of the places visited during their courtship. This helped me realize how often I get busy with “stuff” and forget to notice and take note of all the wonderful things around me. To sum it up, this book was a very comfortable read that was pleasant to my soul.
March 28, 2024
Theirs was a May-December romance lasting nearly 40 years. It was built on mutual love and respect but began with a fierce intensity in its infancy. When Leon Hale passed away just shy of 100 years old in 2021, his parting words to his widow Babette were touching directions: “Write about me!” Writing was what had brought the unlikely pair into each other’s world as Babette had reached out to Hale in 1981 for guidance with her own writing. Hale was a veteran columnist for the Houston Post at the time. Leon responds to Babette’s letter with a phone call and an introductory meet-up is coordinated. At the time of their first get together, Leon is 60 while Babette is 37. They came from different generations and were born in different environments, but a spark was lit almost instantly.
Babette finds Hale disarming with his charm. Hale finds Babette beautiful. Despite their attraction, the wounds of previous broken relationships are raw. They proceed with caution, their intimate moments transcend the physical. The remaining months of the year bespeak of their falling in love and letting the cards fall where they may.
"This Familiar Heart" is a love story that defies conventions. Author Babette Fraser Hale acknowledges the formidable task of writing about her husband’s life from a semi-detached perspective, yet she more than flourishes in her detailing the idiosyncrasies of their romance. The love she possesses for her late husband and the love he had for her is palpable throughout every page. This is a dual memoir that proves to be both heartwarming and captivating.
Babette finds Hale disarming with his charm. Hale finds Babette beautiful. Despite their attraction, the wounds of previous broken relationships are raw. They proceed with caution, their intimate moments transcend the physical. The remaining months of the year bespeak of their falling in love and letting the cards fall where they may.
"This Familiar Heart" is a love story that defies conventions. Author Babette Fraser Hale acknowledges the formidable task of writing about her husband’s life from a semi-detached perspective, yet she more than flourishes in her detailing the idiosyncrasies of their romance. The love she possesses for her late husband and the love he had for her is palpable throughout every page. This is a dual memoir that proves to be both heartwarming and captivating.
April 8, 2024
This Familiar Heart intricately fused together the threads of a love story, a memoir, and a journey through the heart of Texas and beyond. The narrative unfolds in reverse, beginning with the poignant moments at the end of life, where the reader is given a glimpse of a life fully lived. Then, the author traces back to the dawn of a love affair and gradually presents its evolution.
Through letters, reflections, and a third-person narrative lens, the reader tenderly watches as the author unveils the layers of their relationship, saturated with love, affection, and the bittersweet tinge of reminiscence. Each chapter paints vivid vignettes for a nostalgic journey through time and place.
The final part, though undeniably challenging, adds depth and poignancy. For this reader, the familiar realities of hospice care and the echoes of a pandemic offered a raw and unflinching portrayal of human vulnerability and resilience that resonated.
This book is a kaleidoscope of emotions, each twist and turn revealing new facets of their journey. With a touch of rose-colored glasses, the author captures the essence of time gone by, inviting readers to cherish the beauty of love and life's fleeting moments.
This Familiar Heart is not just a book but a heartfelt ode to love, loss, and the enduring power of memories.
Through letters, reflections, and a third-person narrative lens, the reader tenderly watches as the author unveils the layers of their relationship, saturated with love, affection, and the bittersweet tinge of reminiscence. Each chapter paints vivid vignettes for a nostalgic journey through time and place.
The final part, though undeniably challenging, adds depth and poignancy. For this reader, the familiar realities of hospice care and the echoes of a pandemic offered a raw and unflinching portrayal of human vulnerability and resilience that resonated.
This book is a kaleidoscope of emotions, each twist and turn revealing new facets of their journey. With a touch of rose-colored glasses, the author captures the essence of time gone by, inviting readers to cherish the beauty of love and life's fleeting moments.
This Familiar Heart is not just a book but a heartfelt ode to love, loss, and the enduring power of memories.
April 24, 2024
This Familiar Heart by Babette Fraser Hale is the intimate life & love story of Leon Hale and Babette Fraser. This book documents the challenges and and successes of their relationship. It was truly a reflection of lives well-lived and the enduring capabilities of love and hard work.
As someone who lost a loved one during the pandemic, the grief and love that poured out of this story was both difficult and beautiful to read. And Hale's writing - her connection to her experiences, added a layer of even more emotional depth. It was difficult for all the reasons losing a loved one should be difficult. No one wants to be in the throes of pain that only grief can give. And it was beautiful because...what is grief, but love? It's all that love we have overflowing for our loved ones that must go somewhere. Reading about someone else's experiences helped me feel that none of us that have experienced grief are truly alone.
I recommend this book to all readers, but for those who are new to their grief, or have not addressed their grief may want to tread with care. However, it is definitely a story worth reading.
As someone who lost a loved one during the pandemic, the grief and love that poured out of this story was both difficult and beautiful to read. And Hale's writing - her connection to her experiences, added a layer of even more emotional depth. It was difficult for all the reasons losing a loved one should be difficult. No one wants to be in the throes of pain that only grief can give. And it was beautiful because...what is grief, but love? It's all that love we have overflowing for our loved ones that must go somewhere. Reading about someone else's experiences helped me feel that none of us that have experienced grief are truly alone.
I recommend this book to all readers, but for those who are new to their grief, or have not addressed their grief may want to tread with care. However, it is definitely a story worth reading.
March 5, 2024
Babette Fraser Haler's memoir is a fascinating tale of love set in four acts. Though the first act ("The Beginning") is the lengthiest and most involved, the author gives an honest and up-close timeline throughout the book while recounting her 40-year partnership with the late Leon Hale. Slipping in and out of third person with occasional first-person insights, Fraser Hale very generously delves into their courtship, hardships, and unwavering connection -- despite meeting in different seasons of life. The final chapter is a reminder of how difficult the pandemic had been, especially for those who were older or isolated or sick, yet it poignantly contrasts the early days of their love affair, when passion and conversation pushed them along an improbable course. A wonderful read that serves to remind us that life has no script -- even when two writers fall madly in love.
April 25, 2024
Am I the only one who cried and cried after reading Babette Hale’s This Familiar Heart? A very emotional read and intimate, powerful story of her undying devotion and long, happy marriage to the legendary Texas journalist Leon Hale. Very personal, touching account of the challenge of loving a public figure; someone who is charismatic and attracts many admirers competing for his attention. This story reveals another side of Leon Hale not well-known to most of his readers. Would’ve loved if some pictures were included and to have heard more about the time period during their married life together, but grateful for all that Babette shared with us about their lives together. Heartbreakingly sad and beautiful story of the power of love.
July 23, 2024
I so enjoyed multiple aspects of this memoir: the honesty, the good writing, the structure of the telling, the contrasting ages of the couple, the ugliness of cancer, the sadness of death. Leon Hale's columns in the Houston Post and Houston Chronicle were part of the fabric of Houston, where I grew up. I'm pretty sure I read them all. Leon and Babette purchased a country home in Round Top, Texas near my family ranch. As I read the memoir I could enjoy references to the bookstore and owner in my old neighborhood, the highway to Galveston, the local country library. That was delightful. I was always curious about those two. The erotic details of their infatuation was surprising!
April 10, 2025
My daughter gifted this book to me because she knew how I loved Leon Hale throughout my life. His columns in The Houston Post and later The Houston Chronicle were part of the daily life of my family. If you read his columns, you felt that you knew him. As his third wife, Babette, shares with her readers in this lovely memoir, he in fact was a deeply private man who could be challenging to know fully. She paints a very loving portrait of Hale, complete with flaws. Babette Hale has done a wonderful job of letting Leon’s faithful readers inside a very human, real relationship. I’m so thankful to her for this.
November 1, 2025
This was a thoughtful personal retelling of a 40-year marriage built on shared intellectual curiosity and enjoyment of each other. While the beginning felt forced at times, the ending really hit home to share the experience of watching your love handle pain and end of life complexities in a really beautiful way. The book also had a great sense of place in the Texas gulf coast.
April 29, 2024
Featured on Lone Star Book Blog Tours. Lone Star Blogger Team average rating: 4.687.
October 6, 2024
3 1/2 stars
April 1, 2024
Writing with love and yet a certain clarity, Babette Hale tells the story of her courtship with and marriage to iconic Texas author Leon Hale. From very different backgrounds with different life experiences and expectations and with a twenty-three-year age gap between them, they were magnetically drawn to each other. Their courtship was long and marked by joy, passion—and a lot of uncertainty on both parts. Reading this, even when you know the outcome, is like a mystery: will they get it together or not?
Babette tells this story in alternating present tense third person, as though she were an observer, with third person retrospective, looking back and sorting through her feelings after forty years with this very private, sensitive man. It’s an unusual structure that works perfectly. One of the last things he said to her was “Write about me.” Faced with this sworn promise, she writes that she struggled over the approach, knowing that, as she says, she “could never perch in his mind.” She drew on his papers, public and private, on their letters to each other, and on the memories of a few friends. And she incorporated some techniques of fiction, including composite characters.
This book is Babette’s way of working though what she describes as the “craziness of grief”—doubt about the love she had such faith in, guilt over what she could have done differently. It all goes together seamlessly and makes for an enthralling picture of the long romance that blessed these two. This Familiar Heart is in a sense a very private, personal book, but at the same time it shares with us the improbable but inspiring love story.
Babette tells this story in alternating present tense third person, as though she were an observer, with third person retrospective, looking back and sorting through her feelings after forty years with this very private, sensitive man. It’s an unusual structure that works perfectly. One of the last things he said to her was “Write about me.” Faced with this sworn promise, she writes that she struggled over the approach, knowing that, as she says, she “could never perch in his mind.” She drew on his papers, public and private, on their letters to each other, and on the memories of a few friends. And she incorporated some techniques of fiction, including composite characters.
This book is Babette’s way of working though what she describes as the “craziness of grief”—doubt about the love she had such faith in, guilt over what she could have done differently. It all goes together seamlessly and makes for an enthralling picture of the long romance that blessed these two. This Familiar Heart is in a sense a very private, personal book, but at the same time it shares with us the improbable but inspiring love story.
March 1, 2025
A wonderful (if unlikely to some) love story.
I was born and raised in Houston Texas, and Leon Hale was always there in the newspaper as I grew up,and his columns continued on as I grew into adulthood.
This story,written by his wife of over 30 years,showed me a different side of him, and more insight into his character.
I will admit, it was a tad uncomfortable at times, mostly during the brief sexual scenes.(Nothing scandalous. I just wasn't ready to picture Leon Hale having sex)
A fantastic book about love and the obstacles that get in the way.
And it has more than a touch of Texas in it as well. Very appropriate for the man who wrote so often of the state and the people in it.
I was born and raised in Houston Texas, and Leon Hale was always there in the newspaper as I grew up,and his columns continued on as I grew into adulthood.
This story,written by his wife of over 30 years,showed me a different side of him, and more insight into his character.
I will admit, it was a tad uncomfortable at times, mostly during the brief sexual scenes.(Nothing scandalous. I just wasn't ready to picture Leon Hale having sex)
A fantastic book about love and the obstacles that get in the way.
And it has more than a touch of Texas in it as well. Very appropriate for the man who wrote so often of the state and the people in it.
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