Letter From Home

By Carolyn G. Hart

Book Overview

In the summer of 1944, Gretchen Gilman was working as a reporter at the local newspaper. Her assignments weren't very exciting, but it was a good opportunity for a young woman with talent and ambition to spare. That summer everyone was talking about Faye Tatum, who was found dead in her own living room. Gretchen had known Faye, and she'd known that the circumstances of Faye's life and death were much different than people imagined. Gretchen was determined to uncover the truth once and for all-even if it meant writing a story that would haunt her for the rest of her life...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425191796
• ISBN13: 9780425191798
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.9" x 5.7"

Customer Reviews

Worthy of a Pulitzer Prize

LETTER FROM HOME is a literary treasure dealing with American life during World War II in small town Oklahoma. Accurate in detail, brimming with emotion, I love the way the story is told in an original style that adds to the suspense. Carolyn Hart encourages readers to deduce character and motivation not from claim and assertion but from what they observe. These characters come alive! A distinguished novel, already nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, LETTER FROM HOME would make a long-lasting gift.

Letter From Home Hits Home

What a rich novel, a powerful mystery, a joy to read. This novel is outside Hart's well-known longterm mystery series. It involves a 13-year-old in her first journalism job on a daily newspaper in a small northeast Oklahoma town in 1944. It does, however, have a strong mystery to spin, integral to the coming-of-age core plot. I grew up in a small-town in the same part of Oklahoma during World War II myself. In fact, my family owned the daily newspaper. I don't know whether I was charmed by the book more because it captures or recreates so well a time and place that I share -- or by its intrinsic value, a fine story, beautifully told. I suspect both. Anyway, I loved it. So will you and so should some people on your holiday gift list.

So Much More Than A Mystery

Just finished reading Carolyn Hart's Letter From Home and wanted to share my views about it. It is so much more than a good mystery. This is a wonderfully warm, in depth study of people caught up in the emotional turmoil and pain created by WWII. Having lived through that period as a child, the book evoked memories I had almost forgotten existed. This book is one that lingers with the reader, provoking thoughts long after the last page is read and the cover is closed. The book captures the pain of separation and the changes in society caused by war both on the home front and by active duty in the military. It also deals with the changing role of women and the loss of innocence as seen through the eyes of a young teen living in a small town where the impact is so widespread throughout the community. It could also be termed a coming-of-age story when a young woman is forced to see her neighbors, friends and family with their flaws, weaknesses and strengths exposed by the war and the murder that change lives forever. I can well understand why this book has been nominated for a Pulitzer and has been compared to Steinbeck's work. The format of the book is very different, and I would recommend this work to anyone who lived through that era or has an historical interest in the period. It captures the essence of the times wrapped around a very good mystery and leaves no doubt that Carolyn Hart's talent as a writer goes beyond the ability to entertain mystery lovers.

A Charismatic Mystery with Fresh, Wholesome Characters

Famous writer G. G. Gilman receives a letter from home, a place she left that long-ago day. She took a train out of that small Oklahoma town at the end of the hot, sultry summer of '44. She has not been back since. Now an old friend, Barb Tatum, has written her a letter, dredging up memories of that wonderful yet horrible summer. Young Gretchen Grace Gilman had gotten her start in journalism that summer. And Barb's mom, Faye Tatum, had been murdered that summer. Now, she can't imagine what Barb has to say after so many decades. She remembers that time with a bittersweet fondness, despite the horror of the days surrounding the investigation.All able-bodied men had left for the War. Gretchen lived with her grandmother while her mom was in Tulsa aiding the war effort. With a shortage of reporters causing a hardship for the Gazette, thirteen-year-old Gretchen was sent to apply for work at the local newspaper office. Crusty editor Mr. Dennis --- reminiscent of Jimmy Olson's boss at The Daily Planet --- begrudgingly hired her, despite his feeling that women (not to mention girls) don't belong in a newspaper office. But somebody had to do the work, so he gave her a chance. She covered the courthouse, sniffing out which of the local townsfolk had filed lawsuits or spent the night in the drunk tank. She checked the wire for news of the battlefront and stories of soldiers returning home.One day, as she neared the police station, a patrol car with sirens pulsing rushed past her. She didn't know it then, but it was the beginning of one of the biggest investigations her little hometown had ever seen. The police were responding to a simple domestic dispute at the Tatums' house that afternoon, but later that evening, when Faye turned up dead, the search began for Sam Tatum, home on leave but nowhere to be found.Stories flew about how Mrs. Tatum had been seen out nights dancing with any number of men. Tales of a late-night visitor to her house circulated around the town. Unfortunately Faye was dead, unable to defend her name, and her husband, with whom she had argued earlier in the day, looked like the prime suspect. Gretchen unwittingly became involved in the attempt to find Sam, and heroically unearthed the truth behind Faye's seemingly odd behavior.Carolyn Hart has written a charismatic mystery with a cast of fresh, wholesome characters. Wise beyond her years, Gretchen exudes a caring air, dealing with adolescent and adult problems in stride. Her friends begin to ostracize her for a story she has written about Faye, but Gretchen stays true to her beliefs and refuses to back down. Her loyalty to the paper transcends idealism. But, above all, the way she treats people shows her in her best light. She is, quite simply, good.A LETTER FROM HOME is a pleasant trip into the past, a journey that leaves its readers satisfied and content. What better way to enjoy a mystery? --- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

Reader's Delight

Reading this book posed a dilemma for me. I wanted to read quickly to chase after the exciting mystery plot, but also slowly to savor the wonderful writing. It would be a perfect book to read aloud to someone. We see the story through the eyes of a woman named Gretchen, mentally vigorous in old age and reliving events from the summer of 1944 when she was fourteen. Men being away at war changed life in her small Oklahoma town, and gave her the opportunity to work as a newspaper reporter that summer. When a murder happened two doors from where she lived with her grandmother, she found herself deeply involved. I don't enjoy stories about teenage angst, and this is not at all that kind of book. The use of Gretchen's point of view allows the reader to see events through her innocence, rather than the cynicism of a hard-boiled mystery. If you've enjoyed other Carolyn Hart books, you'll surely love this one. Oklahoma summers are HOT, so it will warm you on a winter night, or have you reaching for iced tea and watermelon in summer!Kathy Diamond Davis