The Letter Home
This popular Irish author’s novels often feature young women searching for meaning in their lives by learning about the secrets buried in their families’ pasts. The Letter Home is no exception, and English hits upon the clever device of linking three point-of-view characters: Jessie, a cynical modern Dublin journalist; Kaitlin, a self-doubting Boston lawyer in the same present moment; and Bridget, a survivor of the Great Famine in 1840s Ireland who emigrates to America, leaving behind a beloved baby daughter. To explain how they’re linked would spoil the mystery that is patiently unraveled by the two present-day characters, unbeknownst to each other. Jessie and Kaitlin also embark on a reassessment of their own unsatisfying life choices and gain new appreciation for their exasperating families as they grow in empathy while learning about the history, tragedies, and struggles faced by the resourceful Bridget.
Miller makes some insightful links between the plight of the Irish in the 19th century and the present-day plight of immigrants and refugees around the world; these thoughtful elements give a somewhat pedestrian family narrative a sense of urgency. The two modern characters seem fairly shallow and unappealing at first glance—probably by design, to better highlight Bridget’s ferocity and bravery. Jessie and Kaitlin grow and change in sometimes unexpected ways, but their narratives pale in comparison to Bridget’s detailed impressions of her fictional seaside village of Clooneven, her sea voyage, and bustling pre-Civil War Boston. The domestic allure of genealogical discovery is rudely interrupted by some unexpected criminality in the climax, so the novel’s conclusion becomes a bit forced and melodramatic, clashing with the much more emotionally moving adventures of the much more believable 19th-century heroine.
