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The Hatbox Letters
Beth Powning offers readers an unforgettable story of love, grief and renewal — both past and present — as well as her extraordinary perceptions of the natural world. At the age of fifty-two, Kate Harding has hit a the pain that overwhelmed her when her husband died suddenly from a heart attack the previous year hasn’t diminished, and she is at a loss as to how to go on with her life. Living alone in her large Victorian house, its emptiness magnified by memories of better days, Kate can only dream of a time when her grief will abate, at least enough to allow her to hope for change. When Kate’s sister drops off nine antique hatboxes of papers recovered from their grandparents’ eighteenth-century home in Connecticut, Kate isn’ t sure she is ready to face the remnants of her family’s past. She’s having enough trouble going through Tom’s things. Soon, though, the smell of the hatboxes begins to permeate the air in her home and “awakens a feeling in Kate that she remembers from childhood, composed of odd emotional love, sorrow, pain, contentment.” As she slowly sorts through the letters, diaries and photographs, Kate begins to find some solace in the past. But the further she delves into her grandparents’ history, the more Kate realizes that her perfect world had its own dark side — an undercurrent of tragedy, personal loss and eternal grief. Then an old acquaintance moves back to New Brunswick, and Kate begins to edge out of her solitude, surprising herself. But when a new tragedy comes, it forces Kate to begin picking up the pieces of her shattered life.
373 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 17, 2004
24 people are currently reading
407 people want to read
About the author
Beth Powning
17 books102 followersBeth Powning was born in Hampton, Connecticut. She attended E.O. Smith High School, and Sarah Lawrence College, where she majored in creative writing. Powning moved to New Brunswick, Canada in 1970.
Powning's work has been widely published in books, anthologies, and magazines. She is known for her lyrical, powerful writing and the profound emotional honesty of her work.
Her latest novel, "The Sister's Tale", will be released by Knopf Canada in both Canada and the US on May 25, 2021. Set in the 1887 maritimes provinces, it includes characters from "The Sea Captain's Wife" and concerns home children, suffragists, and women's rights.
Her 2015 novel, " A Measure of Light", was a Globe and Mail Bestseller, a Globe and Mail Best Book, long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award, and the winner of the N.B. Book Award for Fiction. In the USA, "A Measure of Light" was a Sam's Club Best Book for March, 2018.
Beth Powning's novel, "The Sea Captain's Wife" was short-listed for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, in Canada.; and was a Barnes and Noble Discover Award Book, in the USA. The novel has been long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It was translated into French by Editions Perce-Neige, with distribution in Canada and France.
"The Hatbox Letters" was also long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award, and was a Globe and Mail Best Book.
Powning also won Canada's Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for High Achievement in English-Language Literary Arts and has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New Brunswick and Mount Allison University.
She has appeared at literary festivals across Canada, in Ireland, and the UK.
She lives in a 19th century farmhouse in rural New Brunswick, Canada, with her husband, sculptor Peter Powning.
Powning's work has been widely published in books, anthologies, and magazines. She is known for her lyrical, powerful writing and the profound emotional honesty of her work.
Her latest novel, "The Sister's Tale", will be released by Knopf Canada in both Canada and the US on May 25, 2021. Set in the 1887 maritimes provinces, it includes characters from "The Sea Captain's Wife" and concerns home children, suffragists, and women's rights.
Her 2015 novel, " A Measure of Light", was a Globe and Mail Bestseller, a Globe and Mail Best Book, long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award, and the winner of the N.B. Book Award for Fiction. In the USA, "A Measure of Light" was a Sam's Club Best Book for March, 2018.
Beth Powning's novel, "The Sea Captain's Wife" was short-listed for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, in Canada.; and was a Barnes and Noble Discover Award Book, in the USA. The novel has been long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It was translated into French by Editions Perce-Neige, with distribution in Canada and France.
"The Hatbox Letters" was also long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award, and was a Globe and Mail Best Book.
Powning also won Canada's Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for High Achievement in English-Language Literary Arts and has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New Brunswick and Mount Allison University.
She has appeared at literary festivals across Canada, in Ireland, and the UK.
She lives in a 19th century farmhouse in rural New Brunswick, Canada, with her husband, sculptor Peter Powning.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
March 24, 2020
I am a huge fan of New Brunswick author Beth Powning, but this was definitely not one of my favorites.
Main protagonist, Kate, sits in her New Brunswick Canada home and sorts through a new life as a young widow. Her grown children have lives of their own now and so most of her time is spent tending the garden that she and husband Tom created together. In the midst of all this, an old acquaintance re-enters her life and a series of letters gives her insight into her grandparent's courtship.
Although the premise was interesting, the writing is weighted down with descriptions on every task and surrounding and it takes awhile for the "Hatbox letters" to really take hold of the story. Also, Beth Powning uses a technique of Kate "imagining " the scenes from the letters and her grandfather's journal that were transitioned in a very funny way that I didn't really enjoy. However, I still maintain that Powning's The Sea Captain's Wife is one of my favorite Canadian novels.
Goodreads review published 23/03/20
Main protagonist, Kate, sits in her New Brunswick Canada home and sorts through a new life as a young widow. Her grown children have lives of their own now and so most of her time is spent tending the garden that she and husband Tom created together. In the midst of all this, an old acquaintance re-enters her life and a series of letters gives her insight into her grandparent's courtship.
Although the premise was interesting, the writing is weighted down with descriptions on every task and surrounding and it takes awhile for the "Hatbox letters" to really take hold of the story. Also, Beth Powning uses a technique of Kate "imagining " the scenes from the letters and her grandfather's journal that were transitioned in a very funny way that I didn't really enjoy. However, I still maintain that Powning's The Sea Captain's Wife is one of my favorite Canadian novels.
Goodreads review published 23/03/20
February 11, 2014
This is perhaps the worst book I've ever read. I struggled to get through it and was oh so happy to finally reach the end. I gave it one star only for the portion of the story relating to Giles, Jonnie and Hetty. That was the only redeeming part of the whole book. Kate's endless self pity went from boring to just plain annoying. I can safely say I will not be reading any more books by this author. I feel paroled just by having completed it.
January 23, 2021
This is a difficult review. Beth Powning has talent. Observation of little things is keen. To overcome loneliness and loss, depression is expected. She sharply notices doing this, that alone for the first time. When did you last kiss, last words. Unfortunately there's no break. This protagonist doesn't interact with anyone for several chapters. Even her cat is insultingly unnamed, a mere background considering the anchor she must be! Monologues drag the novel down. I pushed to continue. The contradiction: we eventually get to unusual storytelling style in an embedded thread!
Hatboxes with centuries-old receipts etc, reveal poignant things about her Grandparents. The house everyone knew intimately, becomes a warm character. When narration gives over to memories there, depressiveness ceases and we like the book. The outstanding part is in her young Grandfather’s letters. The protagonist fills in everything that must have happened using imagination and this style is gripping! Whenever she continues with the letters, the storytelling is as tangible as a movie. I picture looking at someone through a hospital door; figuring out what's going on without sound... Much later the protagonist begins an unrelated adventure that drives the novel too.
The author relates well to gardeners, metaphors are gorgeous, and sentences absolutely poetic. However to occur more than a couple of times on a page, is cumbersome. Heavy, flowery description goes into nearly each sentence. Worse the author pairs every motion with that descriptiveness: getting a glass of water, drawing a curtain to look at the river. Let readers assume basic actions (like Canadian Lyn Hamilton). Be sparing with solitude scenes and we don't bury the secondary story, that is really worth hearing.
Hatboxes with centuries-old receipts etc, reveal poignant things about her Grandparents. The house everyone knew intimately, becomes a warm character. When narration gives over to memories there, depressiveness ceases and we like the book. The outstanding part is in her young Grandfather’s letters. The protagonist fills in everything that must have happened using imagination and this style is gripping! Whenever she continues with the letters, the storytelling is as tangible as a movie. I picture looking at someone through a hospital door; figuring out what's going on without sound... Much later the protagonist begins an unrelated adventure that drives the novel too.
The author relates well to gardeners, metaphors are gorgeous, and sentences absolutely poetic. However to occur more than a couple of times on a page, is cumbersome. Heavy, flowery description goes into nearly each sentence. Worse the author pairs every motion with that descriptiveness: getting a glass of water, drawing a curtain to look at the river. Let readers assume basic actions (like Canadian Lyn Hamilton). Be sparing with solitude scenes and we don't bury the secondary story, that is really worth hearing.
June 24, 2013
A new widow faces life without her spouse and discovers family history in the letters. Lush descriptions, interesting discoveries. Even though everyone's experience of dealing with a spouse's death is different, the author describes feelings well as though from a first hand perspective.
April 10, 2021
This started off very strong and then seemed to lose steam in the middle before gathering itself together for a lovely ending.
At the beginning Kate is quite introspective as she is coming to terms with widowhood. There are some beautiful passages in this section that touched my soul.
"She seeks evocations of places that are so deeply experienced that every part - trees, wind, mountains, sky - becomes vivid, distinct, imbued with a sense of eternity."
"It is unsettling the way places remain and people vanish."
"She veers, as if the rooms of herself have been rearranged and she no longer knows where anything is."
"It is not a longing for time past, but rather an ache for the past's innocence"
Then Kate begins to read her grandparents' letters and her grandfather's diary and learns about their losses, of siblings and a fiancé to disease. Here Kate lapses into daydreams, imagining what her grandparents would have done and said in those days. This is where the book lost points in my opinion. Tell me what actually happened, I do not care about what someone 80 years later imagines might have happened.
This is also where Gregory shows up, an old family friend who is mourning the suicide of his son, and May, a widowed octogenarian who has been there, done that and emerged into a happy and fulfilled life.
Surrounded by real and imagined losses, Kate gradually comes to terms with her husband's death. She recognizes the various stages of grief in herself and those around her, and the book finishes with some beautiful observations, almost but not quite as strong as it began.
At the beginning Kate is quite introspective as she is coming to terms with widowhood. There are some beautiful passages in this section that touched my soul.
"She seeks evocations of places that are so deeply experienced that every part - trees, wind, mountains, sky - becomes vivid, distinct, imbued with a sense of eternity."
"It is unsettling the way places remain and people vanish."
"She veers, as if the rooms of herself have been rearranged and she no longer knows where anything is."
"It is not a longing for time past, but rather an ache for the past's innocence"
Then Kate begins to read her grandparents' letters and her grandfather's diary and learns about their losses, of siblings and a fiancé to disease. Here Kate lapses into daydreams, imagining what her grandparents would have done and said in those days. This is where the book lost points in my opinion. Tell me what actually happened, I do not care about what someone 80 years later imagines might have happened.
This is also where Gregory shows up, an old family friend who is mourning the suicide of his son, and May, a widowed octogenarian who has been there, done that and emerged into a happy and fulfilled life.
Surrounded by real and imagined losses, Kate gradually comes to terms with her husband's death. She recognizes the various stages of grief in herself and those around her, and the book finishes with some beautiful observations, almost but not quite as strong as it began.
November 28, 2021
"For memory, like a newborn child, confers eternity. The act of remembering, untainted by longing, takes us to the place of an eternal present where everything is always beginning."
I found this book difficult at the beginning due to the surfeit of description, but found it easier going as the story arc began of the letters and the story they tell (and Kate imagines). There are a few interconnected story arcs -- Kate living alone with her memories after her husband's recent death and gradually reconnecting with the community around her, Kate reconnecting with an old family friend after he moves back and his difficulties coming to terms with his son's death, the story of Kate's grandparents' lives told from the letters and Kate's imagination & memories -- and throughout it all the story of Shepton, the family home that itself has come to the end of its time as the family home following the deaths of Kate's grandparents.
I am glad I persevered as I enjoyed this quiet book; I am looking forward to exploring other books by Beth Powning.
I found this book difficult at the beginning due to the surfeit of description, but found it easier going as the story arc began of the letters and the story they tell (and Kate imagines). There are a few interconnected story arcs -- Kate living alone with her memories after her husband's recent death and gradually reconnecting with the community around her, Kate reconnecting with an old family friend after he moves back and his difficulties coming to terms with his son's death, the story of Kate's grandparents' lives told from the letters and Kate's imagination & memories -- and throughout it all the story of Shepton, the family home that itself has come to the end of its time as the family home following the deaths of Kate's grandparents.
I am glad I persevered as I enjoyed this quiet book; I am looking forward to exploring other books by Beth Powning.
May 29, 2025
I found this to be a difficult read. took a couple of tries to get through it
December 16, 2024
I believe a person’s rating of this book will be vastly different from mine if they have not experienced widowhood. There is an absolute ton of detailed descriptions that I can understand would bore the hell out of a lot of readers. However, being a fairly recent widow myself, I found this to be very like early months after losing one’s husband. It seems like everything in your life has gone into slow motion because how can life roll on as it did now that it has profoundly changed for the widow…. You do notice all the tiny things in the absence of the one thing that gave your life meaning for so long. It’s a beautiful book.
February 18, 2025
I give this three stars, because I liked the writing. But I felt there could have been tighter editing and a tighter story as a result. The back story of her grief went on a little longer than necessary.
July 14, 2021
Liked the idea of the story but way too much of reading her brain and thoughts. Too much detail.
October 22, 2011
Oh dear. Another book written in the present tense, though I didn't find that as annoying in this one as I did in The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor. The narrator spends a lot of time reminiscing about the past which gives her plenty of opportunity to switch into the past tense so I guess that made it easier to read. And somehow the present tense seems to fit this story better, giving a feeling that there is no past or future, just the interminable now.
The title refers to nine old fashioned hatboxes found in Kate's grandparents house and filled with old letters, pictures, receipts, invoices, ticket stubs, etc. They have been in the attic for years but now her siblings want her to sort through them and decide what to do with them. Recently widowed and grieving she finds little else to interest her and so begins to put together the pieces of her family's history from the old documents and lots of imagination.
I found the book well written, but the story slow getting started. In the first two or three chapters there was little about the letters and much about the loss she has suffered and how it has changed her. And for me it was a bit heavy on similes and metaphors in the early chapters. There were so many of them they began to get in the way. Fortunately the tempo picked up and I got caught up in the story, both stories actually, past and present.
The sections dealing with Kate's grandparents lives were great, but very little of it came from the letters she found. It's all fictional of course, so Powning could have said anything in the letters, but instead she wrote most of the grandparents' story from Kate's imaginings. She imagines them responding to a situation in one way or another or she pictures them going here or there or saying certain things. It made it all a bit hard to believe for me. And even though it is fiction, the goal should still be to tell a convincing story.
The present day story of Kate dealing with the death of her husband and trying to figure out her place in the world now as a single woman is insightful and compassionate, but sometimes heavy and difficult to wade through.The title doesn't really give an accurate idea of what the book is about. There are hat boxes and there are letters, but what the book is really about is dealing with grief. That's the main story. And just as I found it slow to start, once I got within a chapter or two of the end I found myself getting bogged down again. I kept checking to see how much was left to read.
So I'm conflicted on this one. When I read this over it sounds like I didn't like it much and it's true I think it's weak in a few areas, but I still have to say it's a very good read and I'd be open to reading more of her writing. I do think you'll find it worth the time you'll invest in it.
The title refers to nine old fashioned hatboxes found in Kate's grandparents house and filled with old letters, pictures, receipts, invoices, ticket stubs, etc. They have been in the attic for years but now her siblings want her to sort through them and decide what to do with them. Recently widowed and grieving she finds little else to interest her and so begins to put together the pieces of her family's history from the old documents and lots of imagination.
I found the book well written, but the story slow getting started. In the first two or three chapters there was little about the letters and much about the loss she has suffered and how it has changed her. And for me it was a bit heavy on similes and metaphors in the early chapters. There were so many of them they began to get in the way. Fortunately the tempo picked up and I got caught up in the story, both stories actually, past and present.
The sections dealing with Kate's grandparents lives were great, but very little of it came from the letters she found. It's all fictional of course, so Powning could have said anything in the letters, but instead she wrote most of the grandparents' story from Kate's imaginings. She imagines them responding to a situation in one way or another or she pictures them going here or there or saying certain things. It made it all a bit hard to believe for me. And even though it is fiction, the goal should still be to tell a convincing story.
The present day story of Kate dealing with the death of her husband and trying to figure out her place in the world now as a single woman is insightful and compassionate, but sometimes heavy and difficult to wade through.The title doesn't really give an accurate idea of what the book is about. There are hat boxes and there are letters, but what the book is really about is dealing with grief. That's the main story. And just as I found it slow to start, once I got within a chapter or two of the end I found myself getting bogged down again. I kept checking to see how much was left to read.
So I'm conflicted on this one. When I read this over it sounds like I didn't like it much and it's true I think it's weak in a few areas, but I still have to say it's a very good read and I'd be open to reading more of her writing. I do think you'll find it worth the time you'll invest in it.
April 10, 2009
A beautiful story that follows the life of Kate Harding as she attempts to redefine herself after the shocking loss of her husband.
From dust jacket:
"Kate, 52, is about to face her second winter since the untimely death of her husband. Her children, now grown, are living away, and in her rambling Victorian house in semi-rural New Brunswick, she is truly alone. In her living room are several hatboxes filled with letters and other ghostly ephemera, recently brought by her sister from the attic of their grandparents' 18th-century Connecticut house. They make Kate dream of her childhood and of her beloved grandparents in whose world she experienced a sense of permanence and acceptance that she also felt, more recently, with her husband. As she begins to read the hatbox letters, she discovers that what to a child seemed a serene and blissful marriage was in fact founded on a tragic event. As Kate's eyes clear to the truth of the past, a new tragedy unfolds, and Kate's own house, surrounded by heirloom gardens and the gentle sounds of a river, becomes the refuge where Kate can connect the strands of her unravelled life."
From dust jacket:
"Kate, 52, is about to face her second winter since the untimely death of her husband. Her children, now grown, are living away, and in her rambling Victorian house in semi-rural New Brunswick, she is truly alone. In her living room are several hatboxes filled with letters and other ghostly ephemera, recently brought by her sister from the attic of their grandparents' 18th-century Connecticut house. They make Kate dream of her childhood and of her beloved grandparents in whose world she experienced a sense of permanence and acceptance that she also felt, more recently, with her husband. As she begins to read the hatbox letters, she discovers that what to a child seemed a serene and blissful marriage was in fact founded on a tragic event. As Kate's eyes clear to the truth of the past, a new tragedy unfolds, and Kate's own house, surrounded by heirloom gardens and the gentle sounds of a river, becomes the refuge where Kate can connect the strands of her unravelled life."
February 26, 2016
I was disappointed. The jacket review and indeed the title of the book allude to the focus of the story being about a mystery surrounding the letters stored in the hatboxes. I got to chapter 5 and wondered when the story was going to start. The book did mention the letters but with no more consequence than if it was describing the birds singing after a morning shower. It was too boring to continue reading.
June 6, 2013
The Hatbox letters had the bones to be a good book but I found it to be weighed down with paragraphs of description.The storyline was about a 50 yr old woman who suffered the loss of her partner in a sudden and untimely manner. She had just received a number of old hatboxes full of letters and photos. They had come from the estate of her grandparents where she had spent a lot of time as a child.This book could have flourished with a little 'less is more'
April 13, 2015
I only got about half-way. Unbelievable use of adjectives; all over the place in terms of plot. Sometimes I thought we were going to be able to explore a relationship or idea, and off she'd go again. I had high hopes for this but it just isn't worth my time.
January 4, 2018
Loved part V! You needed parts I to IV to appreciate the learning and wisdom of part V. Learning to live with loss and finding a way to move on is an individual and arduous journey.
October 8, 2021
Tried to read this book but I couldn't finish it.
December 3, 2022
Dedicated readers of literary fiction are always looking for that next great novel that grabs them from the opening page and keeps them entranced through to the final page. Beth Powning’s “The Hatbox Letters” falls into that category.
Kate Harding is facing the second winter, in her semi-rural New Brunswick home, of grieving her husband’s sudden death when she receives several hatboxes that have been languishing in her grandparent’s 18th century house. The hatboxes contain letters, receipts and notes as well as her grandfather’s diary – a virtual treasure trove of family history that reveals a hidden family tragedy. Sifting through the hatbox contents gives Kate a companion as she wrestles with her loss.
“The Hatbox Letters” is filled with exquisite descriptions of gardens, birds and the rugged beauty of New Brunswick that create a mesmerizing visual experience. Powning traces Kate's journey from crippling grief to healing with sensitivity and insight with the parallel journey through her family’s history a part of the healing process
Kate Harding is facing the second winter, in her semi-rural New Brunswick home, of grieving her husband’s sudden death when she receives several hatboxes that have been languishing in her grandparent’s 18th century house. The hatboxes contain letters, receipts and notes as well as her grandfather’s diary – a virtual treasure trove of family history that reveals a hidden family tragedy. Sifting through the hatbox contents gives Kate a companion as she wrestles with her loss.
“The Hatbox Letters” is filled with exquisite descriptions of gardens, birds and the rugged beauty of New Brunswick that create a mesmerizing visual experience. Powning traces Kate's journey from crippling grief to healing with sensitivity and insight with the parallel journey through her family’s history a part of the healing process
November 12, 2018
Oh my! It’s very rare that I don’t finish a book but I just couldn’t get past about the first 50 pages. The pace is so slow movIng that it is just plain dull. Everything single step in the preparation of dinner, for example, is detailed and every single plant in her garden described. Early on, we read that Kate, thinking about the contents of the hatbox, “feels a searing stab of anticipated happiness” looking forward to going through the pictures and letters but does she? No. First she goes to the beach, then sits looking out the window. The next day she goes to the farmers’ market. By the time I couldn’t stand it anymore, she had only pulled out two photos and a death certificate. Too boring? Wouldn’t you want to spend hours going through letters upon letters rather than pulling out a picture one day and an envelope the next?
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June 2, 2022I won’t rate this book because I didn’t actually finish it. The early chapters had me intrigued with evocative descriptions of the old house Shepton, and memories in general for the main character, Kate. However I just couldn’t get past the passive third person present tense narrative of the book, it felt more like stage directions or like listening to the Closed Captioning for a movie, “she pours water into a teapot, stirs the teabags, lifts a Thermos down from the cupboard.” Something else that I didn’t like was the time lapse that happened between chapters but no way of knowing how much time had passed. Anyway, there are just too many books on my shelves waiting to be read to spend time on one I’m not enjoying.
June 3, 2021
Highly recommended. By chance, I started this book the day after a friend’s husband died of ALS, so its themes of loss and the power of memory and hope of renewal really sang to me. It took me a while to adjust to the way Powning switched from present to past, even though the “letters from the past” convention is tried and true. I came to enjoy how the letters were just a jumping off point for Kate to imagine and flesh out key moments from the letters. Worth reading for the rich descriptions of Kate’s gardens alone. One very minor nitpick: yet another book with a character who likely died from lung cancer.
January 21, 2022
I remember reading this 20 years ago and I had just come out west from NB. I was so happy about reading a Canadian book. I loved the book. This year I reread this novel well I listened to it on Audible. I think I preferred to read it myself. I didn't understand grief the way I do now over 20 years ago. I am similar in age to the main character of the book and find myself viewing what I am reading from a different perspective. Sometimes I find it wordy, and sometimes I find the descriptive writing very beautiful. It is easier for me to listen to when I am not as tired.
I found the hatbox letters compelling because I would live to dive into history like that.
I found the hatbox letters compelling because I would live to dive into history like that.
December 17, 2022
I wanted to love this book. It started our beautifully - so beautifully I found myself very melancholy and even tearing up at the beauty described in this book because some of Kate's favorite places are my favorite places and seeing them represented in this way was very touching. This book is about grief and love. I recently lost a grandparent and found these depth of the grief a bit hard to handle at some points. It also made me contemplate my life without my husband and those thoughts were not comfortable. Beth is a beautiful writer - in fact she wrote one of the best books I have ever read "The Sea Capitan's Wife" but this one got long in the tooth for me.
August 15, 2017
Dreadfully boring. From the synopsis, I thought it would be about old letters & family history. It was actually about a modern-day woman who is learning to live without her dead husband. Took forever to finally start reading the letters (so long I almost ditched the book). Well-written & deep, but NOT what I was expecting & NOT what I was in the mood to read. I also really disliked "Kate imagines..." rather than telling me what actually happened in the past.
August 22, 2017
At first I thought this book was extremely boring her husband died and she was lonely. That's all I got from the first three chapters or so. While the writing was very beautiful it seemed that nothing was moving the story forward. However the longer I read it the better it got. While it is not a fast moving story it is a story about moving forward by looking back. I do wonder though if all the scenes in the past really went the way Kate imagined they did.
February 11, 2020
This is a book with beautiful descriptions of the Canadian outdoors and nature. It is also a book about the rawness of grief and loss. The main character works through her grief by walking through the letters, diaries and papers of her grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents. Ultimately triumphant, it takes a slow sad path to politely request there.
Alphabet challenge 2020-P:Powning
Alphabet challenge 2020-P:Powning
July 25, 2020
It was difficult to get into. The metaphors and descriptions were beautifully written - poetic even - but the constant minute detail made the story too heavy and bogged down. I loved the secondary story involving her grandparents. Her own, about trying to reconcile her life without her husband, made me think often and raised questions about my own life. I actually loved many things about this story, but agree with other reviews that it was challenging at times to get through.
February 24, 2022
I really tried to finish this book but finally gave it. Even read ahead a bit to see if I should continue reading it or not. I did not like the main character Kate and the only enjoyable part were the letters about her grandparents.
I actually wished I had read some of the reviews before I purchased this book but unfortunately did not. Iy might have been me but I don’t think I can recommend this book.
I actually wished I had read some of the reviews before I purchased this book but unfortunately did not. Iy might have been me but I don’t think I can recommend this book.
August 22, 2017
I enjoyed this read. It was not a super busy book but it had a good story line. Some parts where quite boring but overall I liked the main character (Kate) and enjoyed that she was a quiet and thoughtful person. Its a great read if your looking for a nice story. I do feel the story line in regards to the letters could of been more entertaining.
October 6, 2017
This was a difficult book to read. The review calls it “luminescent “, and the writing is that. However it too often becomes too much so. I wanted the hatbox letters themselves to be the central story, but instead they revolved around Kate’s sense of despair and loss. It is a book that needed to be read on bright, sunny days to chase away the terrible sense of gloom that pervades the story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews