Dear Juliet: Letters from the Lovestruck and Lovelorn to Shakespeare's Juliet in Verona

by Giulio Tamassia

Real letters sent to the Shakespearean heroine in Verona, Italy—seeking guidance and sharing tales of the passion, pain, humor, and heartbreak of love.   Every year, over ten thousand letters addressed to Juliet Capulet arrive in Verona, Italy, the famous hometown of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. These handwritten letters come from people all over the world, seeking guidance and support from Juliet herself.   Capturing the pain, joy, humor, and confusion of love, the sixty letters in this book offer encouragement, comfort, hope—and a nod to the human condition. Including responses from Juliet herself (in the form of a group known as Juliet’s Secretaries), this romantic and relatable collection proves that love is the universal language.

Genres: Nonfiction, Romance, Shakespeare

167 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 24, 2022

Reviews

[kutingtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

watched a documentary of Juliet’s lovely secretaries that lead me to this book. I love that I can see pieces of myself in most of the letters here and how love really is universal wherever and whoever we are.❤️

[Brooke Kraus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!! Such beautiful stories of lost love. It made me believe in love and for someone who recently started to not believe.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

60 unique and beautiful love letters; I’m just mush!

[Cierra Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute little book!! definitely earned a place as a coffee table book

eeks
- I loved seeing all the different types of love people wrote to juliet about
- actual genuine letters copied into the book? perfect to me

icks
- wish there were more responses from juliet and her secretaries

I genuinely didn’t know that this was and think and it’s just also so cutie sweetie that there’s a postcard inside the book that you can send to juliet

[leayah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite parts was reading people write at the end of their letters, “Please Juliet !! Help !! Tell me what to do !!”
And then it cuts to the next letter instead of a response lmfao

Cute ass stories in there tho, cute concept. Like I was expecting super tragic stories in here but a good lot were actually kinda wholesome wow, I hope everyone in this book are still w their lovers or moved onto ppl that are good for n to them :,)

[Eloise Luscombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

'It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes"' - Love Story, Taylor Swift

OK, so that song was stuck in my head the entire time I was reading this book. But also, it holds value to the book itself. As an assortment of different letters in all kinds of languages expressing lovelorn and lovestruck stories of many, I found it very moving and validating to read. To see that so many people are in the same position as me and to love deeply is to feel everything, which is the most beautiful that life can offer. Brought me to tears many times when reading some of the letters, loved it, 10/10, will be going back to when I'm feeling low :)

[lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

how sweet

[Valeria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um. What a beautiful book? Like... how much handwriting envy can one book inspire? Apparently a lot. The presentation and layout of this book is mint. It's quality. The actual content? Eh. Maybe that's too cynical of me. It's cute. It's cute that people write to the fictional character who was only fourteen and whose love affair ended in double suicide and had a body count of like ten or something.

Oh. That's still too cynical, isn't it?

But really though, it is nice. And it's nice that the Juliet secretaries reply.

But a lot of it was just handwriting envy.

[Keiks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so cute and makes little me believe in the cute little love stories that the movies portray. Just wasn’t really my style of book. It read kinda like little short stories and I’m really more into continuous novels. For what it was though, really solid read. Also the whole idea of the Juliet club is so interesting and also really cute.

[Júlia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprei o livro ano passado em Paris na Shakespeare and Company e estava a um bom tempo enrolando para terminar. Eu conhecia a historia das Secretarias de Julieta pela mesma forma que a maioria das pessoas conhecem, pelo filme "Letters to Juliet" com a Amanda Seyfried, mas ler um livro que compilou uma serie de cartas reais mudou completamente a forma que eu via e entendia essa tradição da cidade de Verona.
Confesso que ao ler algumas das cartas eu chorei bastante, me questionei o que era amor e como era possível que cada uma das pessoas no livro entendem de uma maneira única e individual. Me enxerguei em varias das mulheres que só queriam um ombro amigo para conversar sobre o que sentem e escolheram Julieta como essa pessoa. As Secretarias de Julieta fazem um trabalho extremamente puro e lindo!
Espero poder deixar minha carta entre uma das pedras do pátio interno de Julieta algum dia.

[Gaby Perdomo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of heartfelt letters from all over the world who all seek advice about love from the fictional patron Saint of Love. Normally, I would annotate passages for fun, but it feels too invasive knowing these are words and sentiments that belong to real-life people.

In 2023, I wrote to Juliet of my own hopelessness with love,but to my surprise, I received a letter back from her! She gave me such sweet encouragement to always believe in even in the darkest times and that love comes in so many forms in our lives.

I feel special being a member of the Club di Guilette.

[Erie · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I bought this booking thinking it was going to be filled with heart wrenching stories about love and loss, which I thought was perfect because I just went through a breakup and needed someone to relate to. While there are letters from all different perspectives on love, and I appreciate the vulnerability everyone shared, it just wasn’t what I expecting content wise. Not each letter has a response, but every letter was so beautiful to read.

[Nene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars! V pretty book. But some of the letters didn’t make any sense in the book (I felt like they were a waste of space), some were hard to read because of the handwriting (and yes I can read cursive), and some of the letters were just weird (big age gaps). It looks nice on my Shakespeare shelf and I’m glad I read it. A lot of the letters were nice and some were really relatable.

[Vanessa Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book found me in a tough week, and it was exactly what I needed to find the beauty of humanity and, especially, love. A beautiful composition of peeks into the lives of others; it made me feel closer to my fellow person knowing we all experience the same heartaches and heartwarming. I couldn’t recommend it more.

[hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a collection of heartfelt letters, all of which focus on the common theme of love. my heart broke for so many of these letters and i felt comforted that i wasn't alone in what my feelings for love. i just wished that there were more letters that the juliet club wrote back to the writers - there were a lot of letters where i wanted to know the response.

[Darah DeWalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the fact I love the whole premise of the Juliet Club, this was a refreshing read.

The world is a hateful, dark, and scary place right now and this was a little light in my life to read these letters from men & women all over the world looking for love, celebrating their love, wishing for love, and hanging on to thought that love exists. That love is alive. Hoping the love will return.

[Sabaah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely little collection of letters. I picked this book up earlier this week from Stratford-upon-Avon whilst visiting Shakespeare's birthplace and i'm so glad i did! Well worth a read, a mix of so many different short stories on love.

[Stephii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Juliet is a beautifully written and deeply emotional that captures the essence of love, heartbreak, and self-discovery. Dear Juliet is a must-read. It’s the kind of book that lingers in your heart long after you’ve turned the last page. Highly recommended!

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compilation of letters written to Juliet . . . The book also includes some of the responses from the Secretaries of Juliet. Exciting at first but I lost steam and it took a while to finish.

[Erna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allt of góð

[Serendipity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just beautiful

[Katie Pritzl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book and it told a lot of stories from around the world about love, and the longing for answers about romance, and love.

[Bryce Rocks My Socks · Rating 4 out of 5]

jc: anyone on this app ever written to juliet and/or got a response back?

[krystiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe love is real

[Shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so devastatingly beautiful. It’s beautiful to know that these are real people, with real and raw emotion. And so much love. You will all find love. Love is everywhere

[Estephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 but I’m not a romantic ~ I know translations are difficult, but something was missing in these letters for me.

[Chloe Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

the sweetest little book full of love letters sent to "Juliet" in Verona, Italy, a must buy if you are a hopeless romantic. 🥹🩷

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely book, I just wish there were more responses from "Juliet"

[(๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) tam tam (´∀｀) · Rating 5 out of 5]

finding true love while struggling with love