Letters of Note: Love

by Shaun Usher (Compiler)

From Napoléon Bonaparte and Frida Kahlo to Nelson Mandela and Ayn Rand glimpse the ardors of artists, painters, writers, and more in this touching volume of beautiful missives, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Beethoven yearns to see his famously unknown Immortal Beloved. A Victorian farmer proposes marriage to a woman he's never met. Zora Neale Hurston gives her ex-husband relationship advice. Mildred Loving asks the ACLU for help challenging the racist marriage laws of the Jim Crow South. Revealing deep, eternal truths from the heart, this intimate collection of 30 letters traces all of love's incarnations, from first blush and mutual enchantment to unrequited feelings and the ache of passions past. It offers a rare, passionate, and timeless look at what it means to love and be loved.

Genres: Nonfiction, Romance, Poetry, Audiobook, History, Short Stories, Anthologies

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2020

About the author

Shaun Usher is a writer, editor, and compulsive collector of remarkable words. He is the author of Letters of Note, an international bestseller that began life as a blog and grew into a celebrated series of books and inspired the live stage show Letters Live, which he has co-produced since 2013. He has published 16 books so far, covering everything from love and grief to music, dogs, and outer space, and in October 2025 will release his 17th, Diaries of Note: 366 Lives, One Day at a Time, a curated journey through a year’s worth of diary entries from history. He lives in Manchester with his wife, Karina, and their three children.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of various love letters, each varying in their form and expression of love, each painfully beautiful.
I'll admit it. I cried a couple times. Vita Sackville-West's letter to Virginia Woolf affected me especially.
If you are able to grab a copy of this collection, do so at your first opportunity.

[Nazin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains thirty love letters with descriptions of the author and the author's lover. I recommend this book if you are interested in reading letters, especially love letters. Not all letters are great, but I really enjoyed reading letters from writers I knew.
I wrote a list of the names of the letters and the authors and a paragraph or sentence that I liked.
I don't think writing a few sentences from the letter will spoil it, but if that's important to you, don't read the rest of my review.

1. NOTHING GOOD GETS AWAY
○ John Steinbeck to Thom Steinbeck
● It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or
another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

2. I CANNOT DO LESS
○ Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren
● As for me, it is baffling to say so and I feel ashamed, but it is the only true truth: I just love you as much as I did when I landed into your disappointed arms, that means with my whole self and all my dirty heart; I cannot do less. But that will not bother you, honey,

3. KNOW THAT YOU ARE LOVED
○ Dorothy Freeman to Rachel Carson
● Whatever time it is when you read this, please know my arms are figuratively about you. So close your eyes and know that you are loved. May your Christmas be a blessed one.

4. MY SOUL IS VEXED
○ Isaac Forman to William Still
● My soul is vexed, my troubles are inexpressible. I often feel as if I were willing to die. I must see my wife in short, if not, I will die. What would I not give no tongue can utter. Just to gaze on her sweet lips one moment I would be willing to die the next. I am determined to see her some time or other .

5. YOU ARE SUPERIOR TO ALL
○ Juliette Drouet to Victor Hugo
● If I were a clever woman, my gorgeous bird, I could describe to you how you unite in yourself the beauties of form, plumage, and song! I would tell you that you are the greatest marvel of all ages, and I should only be speaking the simple truth!

6. I HAVE NEVER LOVED BEFORE AS I LOVE YOU
○ Vladimir Nabokov to Véra Slonim
● How can I explain to you, my happiness, my golden, wonderful happiness,how much I am all yours – with all my memories, poems, outbursts, inner whirlwinds?

7. WE FORMED ONLY ONE BEING
○ Maud Gonne to W.B. Yeats
● [ Nothing caught my attention ]

8. I HAVE HAD MY EYE ON YOU
○ Simon Fallowfield to Mary Foster
● [ Nothing caught my attention ]

9. I WEEP AND WEEP AND WEEP
○ Nadezhda Mandelstam to Osip Mandelstam
● My every thought is about you. My every tear and every smile is for you. I bless every day and every hour of our bitter life together, my sweetheart,my companion, my blind guide in life.

10. GO RIGHT AHEAD AND GET MARRIED
○ Zora Neale Hurston to Herbert Sheen
● [ Who said this is a love letter? ]

11. YOU WILL NEVER BE FAR AWAY
○ Marina Tsvetaeva to Rainer Maria Rilke
● No, you are not yet far away and high above, you are right here, with your head on my shoulder. You will never be far away: never inaccessibly high.

12. IMMORTAL BELOVED
○ Ludwig van Beethoven to his ‘Immortal Beloved’
● Can our love persist otherwise than through sacrifices, than by not demanding everything? Canst thou change it, that thou are not entirely mine, I not entirely thine?

13. FEEL HAPPY TONIGHT
○ Anne Lindbergh to Charles Lindbergh
● If we should sin or separate if we should fail or secede—we have tasted of happiness—we must be written in the book of the blessed. We have had what life could give .

14. THIS IS A LOVE LETTER, IS IT NOT?
○ John Jay Chapman to Minna Timmins
● I have sealed up each one of these letters thinking I had done—and then a
wave of happiness has come over me—remembering you—only you, my
Minna—and the joy of life. Where were you, since the beginning of the
world?

15. I LOVE MY WIFE. MY WIFE IS DEAD.
○ Richard Feynman to Arline Feynman
● I know how much you like to hear that—but I don’t only write it because you like it—I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you.

16. MY ANGEL, MY LOVE
○ Emilie Blachère to Rémi Ochlik
● I loved it when I said that you were the best photographer in the world and you said, “Well, you’re biased.”

17 . A PROBLEM WE HAVE
○ Mildred Loving to the American Civil Liberties Union
● [ Nothing caught my attention ]

18. PIECES OF MEAT TO HUNGRE WOLFE
○ Addie Brown to Rebecca Primus
● Dear Rebecca if I had the energy of the dove how swiftly I would fly to the arms of my love.

19. YOU ARE SPLENDID
○ Robert Schumann to Clara Wieck
● The knights of old were better off; they could go through fire or slay dragons to win their ladies, but we of today have to content ourselves with more prosaic methods, such as smoking fewer cigars, and the like.

20. I’M TERRIBLY IN LOVE WITH YOU
○ James Schuyler to John Button
● I love being in love with you , it makes even unhappiness seem no bigger than a pin .

21. LOOK FOR ME IN THE SUNSETS
○ Emmie to Sumner
● I have left the stage but I will never leave you. I am in a thousand places that will always be ours.

22.A LOUSY PROPOSITION
○ Evelyn Waugh to Laura Herbert
● I have always tried to be nice to you and you may have got it into your head that I am nice really, but that is all rot. It is only to you & for you.

23. I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
○ Ansel Adams to Cedric Wright
● Love is a seeking for a way of life the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things .

24. I’M AMPUTATING YOU
○ Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
● If there is anything I’d enjoy before I die, it’d be not having to see your fucking horrible bastard face wandering around my garden. ( I know this one is not romantic!)

25. !AWAY FROM YOU I AM AS NOTHING
○ Lester Halbreich to Shirley Halbreich
● I am frightfully and desperately lonely for you . . .
and I am glad; glad because I know you miss me as greatly as I do you; and glad in the anticipation of our reunion.

26. A THOUSAND KISSES AS FIERY AS MY SOUL
○ Napoléon Bonaparte tt Joséphine de Beauharnais
● Ah, you well know that if I could shut you up in my breast , I would put you in there!

27. GOOD LUCK, MY DARLING
○ Nelson Mandela to Winnie Mandela
● In these hectic & violent years I have grown to love you more than I ever did before . . . Nothing can be as valuable as being part & parcel of the formation of the history of a country.

28. I LOVE JUNE CARTER, I DO
○ Johnny Cash to June Carter
● You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much

29. A SQUEAL OF PAIN
○ Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf
● [ Nothing caught my attention ]

30. I SHALL ALWAYS BE NEAR YOU
○ Sullivan Ballou to Sarah Ballou
● How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness and strugle with all the misfortunes of this world to shield you and my children from harm but I cannot .

[Adrian Dumitru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oamenii pierd prea mult timp framantandu-se și intrebandu-se daca o legătură va dura sau nu. Bucură-te de ea atât cât e, ca sa nu ai regrete mai târziu.

[Lilli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was beautiful.

[hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read much of nonfiction but I do find nonfiction with epistolary content especially in a letter format as fascinating. Letters of Note: LOVE consists of 30 letters about love that were first published through an old-fashioned correspondence website that started in 2009. Compiled with both letters and their respective backstory-- some inspired by love's first blush, outburst passions and confessions, and some on the unrequited feelings and regrets.

I actually quite fond reading on the history of how each letters were sent and written. Heart-wrenching and lovely, and I love on how each senders having their own ways of expressing concern, love, hope and sorrow. Some are too memorable that their stories stuck in my afterthought. Listing few of my favourites:

・Emilie Blachère to Rémi Ochlik-- Ochlik was killed in Syria and the letter was written by Blachère after his death
・Sullivan Ballou to Sarah Ballou-- the unsent letter was written before Sullivan was killed in the First Battle of Bull Run and it was found amongst his belongings
・Nadezhda Mandelstam to Osip Mandelstam-- written two months before Osip died at the forced labour camp
・Isaac Forman to William Still-- escaping the life of slavery in Norfolk, Forman wrote to Still (a secret network) addressing his worry about his wife who is still being enslaved in Richmond.

Personal and alluring yet impactful. Few can be too romantic and cringing but I admire its sentimental and classic nuances as some letters were written as early of 1800s. I am having a bit of annoyance with the paragraph alignment (no text justify) though but it is just me anyway, tsk.

Giving 3.5 stars to this! Thanks to Pansing Distribution for sending me a review copy of this book in return for my honest review!

[Aiza Idris (biblio_mom) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also” - John Steinbeck

First of all, there’s this guilt in me when I was reading these letters 🤣 it then escalated to all kinds of emotions; sadness, anger, happy-sad, resentment, and just love. These letters aren’t just from or to lovers, but some are written to a son, a mistress ( 👀), possible wife 😌 and a dear friend. and oh! one of these letters are from Nelson Mandela!

💭 As the compiler suggested, Letters of Note: Love is essential reading for anyone with a heart, I do have a heart, but i’m not sure if I’m moved by some of it. Especially from Simon to his crush, who he added “If you will not accept of me I have another very nice woman in my eye, and I think shall marry her if you do not accept of me”, and from Zora, to a married man 😑. Bruh, if you cannot man up to rejection, why don’t you just not sent the letters in the first place? 🤣 and I was heavily emotional when Zora wrote (slide to the left. you’ll understand me).

💭 Overall, if you’re interested in seeing the art of writing letters full of emotions, you are just curious what would some of these famous people wrote to their loved ones, this book is for you. I think the compiler did a great job getting all these personal letters. I bet its not easy to get their consents too.

❤️ TQ #pansing @definitelybooks for sending me this copy! This books is available in most major bookstores.

[avgi_ rouc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο έρωτας , ως προνόμιο όλων,άτακτο,ασυνείδητο,σκληρό,
τυραννικό,πρόσχαρο τερατάκι.
{Την 26 την αγάπησα λίγο 🤏 παραπάνω}

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Not as impactful on me as Letters of Note: Art but still an enjoyable listen.

Highlights include:

Mark Strong as John Steinbeck
Dorothy freeman’s letter to Rachel Carson
Maude Gonne’s letter to W.B. Yates

Nadezhda Mandelstam’s letter to Osip Mandelstam (this really touched me)

Zora Neale Hurston’s letter to Herbet Sheen

Addie Browns letter to Rebecca Primus

Frida Khali’s letter to Diego Rivera

Sanjeev Bhashkar as Bonaparte

Vita Sakville West’s letter to Virginia Woolf

[Gemma]

It may be the hopeless romantic in me but this collection made me laugh and cry and took me on quite an emotional journey. A very powerful and moving collection of letters centered on love in its many forms. I liked the diversity in these letters and appreciated that the collection featured notable literary figures alongside lesser known individuals from varying backgrounds and positions.
As a collection of real personal letters it does not feel appropriate to give this a star rating but I will say that I loved it and will definitely be revisiting these again in the future.

[Victoria Simpson]

A beautiful collection of letters about love, from and to people like Simone de Beauvoir, Rainer Maria Rilke, Frida Kahlo and Zora Neale Hurston.

[Sarah M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

[Michelle Coughlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really beautiful read.

[Lisa Shardlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of love letters written by some well-known people, as well as some lesser known people. Some letters are inspired by a first crush, others the proposition of marriage, a scorned lover, forbidden love, or feelings of regret. All are very powerful. With letters from people such as Simone de Beauvoir, Vladimir Nabokov, Zora Neale Hurston, Nelson Mandela, Maud Gonne, Johnny Cash and many more.

At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this because I wasn’t sure about some of the narrators, but I did end up enjoying it. I especially enjoyed a letter from Frida Kahlo to her husband Diego which was less than flattering, she basically told him that he was ugly and that she was amputating him from her life. He deserved it, by the way. There was also some bonus material just for audiobook listeners, and there was a letter written by Gerald Durrell to his wife, which I also really liked, his sense of humour really came across in it. I also liked that each letter was introduced with a little bit of background to the people involved and the circumstances in which the letter was being sent.

I wish I had read this rather than listened to it. I think it would have been easier to go back and make a note of the different people who had written the letters, to be able to go and look them up after. Other than that, I really liked this collection of love letters themselves. So for this reason, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

I would recommend this to anyone who’s interested in nonfiction correspondence, epistolary books, powerful love letters, romance, and history.

[AcademicEditor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect February read, exploring love more deeply than the cheesy greeting card holiday ever could. And also relevant for Black History Month, with the heartbreaking letter from an escaped slave, Isaac Forman, who had to leave his wife behind as she was enslaved on another farm, along with Mildred Loving's letter to the ACLU asking for help with the predicament her interracial marriage had caused her legally. There are some familiar timeless classics as well, such as Richard Feynman's moving letter to his late wife ("You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive"). And there are more recent or less well-known letters, such as that of a woman whose journalist partner was killed in Syria in 2012. All in all, it's an excellent collection of just exactly what is promised, letters of note about love.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something so personal about writing letters. Knowing that maybe they'll be kept by the receiver to remember the sender by and this compilation has a little bit of different types of love; romantic, sensual, platonic, familial, practical, one-sided, to name a few.

Some I found charming, like the opening letter from John Steinbeck to his son, others I found to be a bit sad knowing these were the last letters between spouses or lovers, and then there were some that had me shaking my head as the one from a man who proposing marriage but comments to the reader that he has another in mind in case she says no..ballsy move buddy..

I do like that before each letter was a bit of background on who the writer and receiver were and their relationship to each other. It helped set up a base for me to understand the sentiment of the letter as I knew some of the people included but not all so that was a great addition.

[Aggeliki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το διάβασα στην ελληνική έκδοση της Brainfood. Δώρο ενός σημαντικού ανθρώπου για μένα, γιατί διαφορετικά δε νομίζω ότι θα το αγόραζα. Απλούστατα διότι όλα αυτά τα ερωτικά γράμματα, είναι απόλυτα προσωπική υπόθεση μεταξύ δύο ανθρώπων κι εγώ ως αναγνώστριά τους, αισθάνθηκα σαν να τους παρακολουθώ από την κλειδαρότρυπα.
Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι ότι ο έρωτας μπορεί να εκφράζεται υπέροχα ΚΑΙ με τον γραπτό λόγο. Άλλοτε απλά και όμορφα και άλλοτε με μεγαλοπρεπείς δηλώσεις. Σε κάθε περίπτωση, το συναίσθημα που βγάζουν αυτές οι επιστολές είναι ενθαρρυντικό και συγκινητικό. Ότι ο ρομαντισμός και το μεδούλι της αγάπης είναι ακόμη εδώ, ως εξαίρεση στον κυνικό μας κόσμο.

[Cinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really whetted my appetite to read something emotionally charged. It was a cute collection of letters. My only complaint is that it was a rather small read, but I can safely say that it has renewed my obsession. Please buy a copy and flick through it slowly :) Try your best to really savour the words and give yourself an immersive experience. Don’t withhold the attention this book rightfully claims. Give it freely. Give it with passion!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my normal sort of read, I'm not really a romantic person but I thought this was beautifully put together.

Oh, and Gerald Durrell's letter was bloody brilliant.

[Felicity Waterford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some truly touching letters of love, like “A squeal of pain” Vita Sackville-West wrote to Virginia Woolf, or the incredibly honest “a lousy proposition” Evelyn Waugh wrote to his soon-to-be ex-wife’s 19 year old cousin. What made this book for me was the short introductions to each letter, explaining just enough history and context to truly appreciate each one. Oh to be loved as some of these loved... truly, madly, deeply.

[natt :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

(únicament perquè és el millor moment per llegir cartes d'amor aaaa)

[Anne (Not of Green Gables) · Rating 5 out of 5]

You could throw a hardback book of letters at my nose and I'd still thank you. This collection was a thing of beauty. I smiled, sniffled, and laughed. Strongly recommend.

[Felia Isaksson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schöne Aufmachung, leider gefällt die Auswahl der Briefe nicht ganz so, aber Liebe ist und bleibt vielfältig. (:

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have read & not audiobooked it

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being able to read these letters was beautiful. A couple also very funny

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a romantic. Ok? Fine. I admit it. A romantic who loves the 'art form' of letters. They're just good. This collection of letters was just a lovely thing to read. Perhaps too many and too many dramatic, verbose proclamations of undying love. But still some really lovely ones.

[emme · Rating 5 out of 5]

when are letters gonna make a comeback?

[Mayra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

"Love is a seeking for a way of life; the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things"
- Ansel Adams

[Misheto · Rating 5 out of 5]

All letters were very interesting and showed many different aspects of love. I must say my favorite letter was ‘My angle, my love’ by Emilie Blachère. I loved reading how others experienced love and how they talked to their loved once. Lovely compilation.

[Kleinebuecherwelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liebe kann wunderschön sein, aber auch Schmerz bedeuten. Sie ist ein Gefühl, das jeder Mensch empfindet und jede Liebesgeschichte verläuft anders. Die gesammelten Briefe dieses Büchleins zeigen genau diese unterschiedlichen Facetten der Liebe, die sie so besonders machen. Aber auch die Tiefen und Stärken des wertvollen Gefühls. Wenn man so wie ich zu den hoffnungslosen Romantikern der Welt gehört wird man viel Spaß beim Lesen der Briefe haben. Einige sind so gefühlvoll, dass sie mitten ins Herz treffen - das gilt vor allem für die Traurigen, denn sie zeigen, dass sie Liebe nicht immer schön ist.
Die Liebesbriefe der Sammlung stammen von den unterschiedlichsten Personen. Berühmte Persönlichkeiten wie der Sänger Johnny Cash oder der Politiker Nelson Mandela sind dabei, aber auch unbekannte Personen. Die Mischung zeigt, dass jeder Mensch im Inneren doch gleich ist und die Liebe jeden Menschen verzaubert - unabhängig davon, was man beruflich macht oder wie reich und erfolgreich man ist. Liebe - Letters of Note hat mich berührt und träumen lassen. Es ist nur schade, dass heutzutage kaum noch Briefe geschrieben werden.

Fazit: Eine berührende Sammlung von Liebesbriefen, die die unterschiedlichen Facetten des schönsten Gefühls auf der Welt zeigen.

[Darsana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Disasters will always come and go, leaving their victims either completely broken or steeled and seasoned and better able to face the next crop of challenges that may occur. It is precisely at this present moment that you should remember that Hope is a powerful weapon" - Letter from an incarcerated Nelson Mandela to Winnie Mandela on learning of her 16 month detainment.

Letters of Note on Love, compiled by Shaun Usher, is a collection of historical love letters written by famous people or people made famous by their letters. I listened to the audible version narrated by noteworthy artists such as Meera Syal, Miriam Margoyles, Benedict Cumberbatch and so on.
For a good part of the quarantine, my anxiety was abated by these darling letters, serving as meditations on love, heartbreak, friendship,loss and death. It felt oddly serendipitous, as if these voices of old, drifted across time to say
'So it goes. Love and life will always happen, as it must.'