Letters From My Sister

By Valerie Fraser Luesse

Libby eBook 

Published: 2023

Genre: Christian historical fiction

I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it as much as her title Under the Bayou Moon. Sisters Emmy and Callie Bullock are incredibly close even though they are very different in so many ways. Emmy loves dresses, tea parties, and is excited to be affianced to Knox. Callie would rather ride horses and go hunting with her dad and brothers.

Some parts of this book were very predictable and others took me by surprise. I was almost halfway though the book when I thought, "Emmy and Knox better hurry up and get married so they can move away and start the letter writing of the title . . . " How wrong I was!

Chapter 1: "Perfection made her uneasy."

This is from Callie. She is observing Knox looking over all the people at the May Day picnic. He is searching for Emmy and Callie thinks that the love her sister and Knox have is too perfect. Perfection makes me uneasy, too, but I think this was just simple foreshadowing.

Chapter 5: "Callie did her crying alone."

I'm not at all shy about letting others see me cry. I can appreciate people who prefer to be a bit more private with their feelings, though. 

Chapter 17: "'Everybody thinks I look after you,' she said, 'but they've got it backwards. They've always had it backwards.'"

Emmy is confiding in Callie about the conflict caused by Knox's twin brother Ryder (a real cad). Callie is the braver of the two of them. The sister bond is powerful for them!

Chapter 21: "She had taught Hepsy about the dangers of 'bad juju,' which they now met not with spells or incantations, as in the old days, but with prayers for the protection of Almighty."

I thought it was interesting that a Christian author would have characters (Hepsy, who ran the Bullocks' house and her mother Tirzah, the midwife and healer) who had special giftings that are generally considered paranormal. Their faith in God was emphasized, but there were a lot of very other worldly things in this book.

Chapter 32: "Now that Callie was married, she could understand how awful it would be to endure the kind of distance that separated her parents, whom she had never thought of as a married couple before - just her mother and father."

This made me laugh to think about how self-focused children are. (I remember not really considering my parents' lives, interests, etc. until I was much older!)

Chapter 32: "And life is very short - no matter how many years we're given." 

Amen to that! Life is short. And precious.

Chapter 33: "If there was one thing Callie understood now, it was the loneliness of bearing a burden all by yourself."

Again, the sisters have such a close connection to one another. It is sweet that she's more concerned about Emmy having to carry a terrible secret by herself than she is about her own situation.

Chapter 34: "It was thrilling to have a sense of purpose, to do something about her sister's sickness instead of helplessly grieving it."

When they decide to reopen the mill and Callie is on board to do the cooking for the men, it didn't seem very realistic. But I know that it is often easier to have a task or challenge than to sit around worrying!

Chapter 35: "Callie took a sip of hot coffee. 'A toothache beats those tea parties.'"

I'm with Callie! Drinking the coffee and avoiding the tea parties.

Chapter 37: "I will find a way to tell you everything. Just trust me as you always have. I promise to be worthy of it."

This is from Emmy's letter to Callie. The big secret and Callie's lost memories . . . all got a little overdone for me. But I did appreciate the sisters' relationship.

Chapter 44: "Callie had always found it odd that, at a time when people felt the least equipped to be social, a family funeral forced them to entertain everyone they knew."

Ugh! We shouldn't put burdens on people who are already grieving! I'm glad we don't have to host post-funeral gatherings in our home nowadays. My house is rarely clean.

Author's Note: "And I believe our innate humanity, a gift from God, will always have the power to overcome hatred and injustice."

That is a lovely sentiment. I like her positive perspective. I like that she had some really cool characters (both black and white) in this story. Ryder was a proper villain. Callie was a wonderful protagonist. It will be nice to discuss this at book club tomorrow evening.