I also liked Laura’s friend Monica, who is in a band and is organising the music festival that was accompanying the literary festival. Because Vita and Virginia are no fictional characters, invented by some author, but they were very real personalities with very human characteristics and weaknesses. Six years on, and Maddy’s life in the village has settled into a gentle pattern with her young daughter and Great Aunt Ruthie.

Author Jane Mount brings literary people, places, and things to life through her signature and vibrant illustrations. It is definitely a challenge to Laura, because Dermot now lives as a recluse and it is almost impossible to get in touch with him. The original manuscripts of such letters grant the reader a direct connection with the person who actually wrote those personal words, sometimes many centuries ago.

This is a curated selection from the letters and journals of Woolf and Sackville-West, packaged for a general readership and without any scholarly apparatus. Katie Fforde books very often have a long buildup, so I was willing to go along for the ride for a while with Laura, even though it seemed to take forever to really get started. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Taken together, these Love Letters of Great Men show that perhaps men haven't changed so very much over the last 2,000 years; passion, jealousy, hope and longing are all represented described here - as is the simple pleasure of sending a letter to, and receiving one from, the person you love most. My thanks to Francesca Banks at Piatkus (a Little Brown imprint) for sending me a copy of this book.

On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. One final note: I’d love to know where the title come from – Love Letters – I thought the book may have had some love letters within it but there weren’t any which makes the title seem rather weird. One of the biggest tasks entrusted to her is to pull in the Irish best-selling author, Dermot Flynn.

my main complaint with this collection (and the reason for that one penalty star) is that virginia is too edited.