The Letter

In the present day, an unnamed grandmother gardens with her granddaughter, savoring bumble bees, sweet peas, and the child's hand in hers. When the girl asks how she and Grandpa met, the grandmother says it is a long story. The novel unfolds that story across two timelines, connecting two women separated by decades but bound by a single undelivered letter.

In March 1973, Tina Craig endures life with her husband, Rick, an unemployed, alcoholic bus driver who first hit her on their wedding night and whose violence has worsened over four years. Tina, the sole breadwinner, has been secretly saving money in a hidden coffee jar to escape. On Grand National day, Rick gives her 50 pounds and orders her to bet it all on a horse called Red Rum. She discovers he has found and emptied her escape fund. At the charity shop where she volunteers, she tells Graham, the bookie next door who is in love with her, that she refuses to place the bet. While sorting donated clothes, she finds an old suit with a sealed envelope in the inside pocket addressed to Miss C. Skinner, bearing an unfranked stamp that indicates it was never mailed. Red Rum wins, but Graham reveals he secretly placed the bet on her behalf and gives her the winnings.

Tina delivers the money to Rick, who briefly acts lovingly before the cycle turns violent again. He forces himself on her, and she resolves to leave for good. She confronts him, takes a packed suitcase and his winnings, and walks out. Alone in a small rented room, she opens the letter. Dated 4 September 1939, it is from a man named Billy to "My darling Christina," apologizing for reacting badly to her pregnancy, declaring his love, and proposing marriage. Tina, whose full name is also Christina, feels a bond with the unknown Chrissie and resolves to find her.

The narrative shifts to spring 1939. Billy Stirling, 21, was adopted as a baby after his birth mother jumped from a railway bridge on Armistice Day 1918, the day World War I ended, despairing over her husband's death in combat. At a dance hall, Billy is captivated by the quiet Chrissie Skinner, 19, but his best friend Clark walks her home first. Billy visits Chrissie the next day, sees her bruised face from where her stern father, Dr. Samuel Skinner, struck her for sneaking out, and confesses his feelings. They begin a relationship, fracturing Billy's friendship with Clark.

Over the summer, Billy and Chrissie fall deeply in love despite Dr. Skinner's contempt. On 3 September, war is declared. Chrissie tells Billy she is two months pregnant. He panics, but his adoptive mother, Alice, encourages him to write expressing his true feelings. Billy composes the letter, proposing marriage. On his way to post it in the wartime blackout, he encounters Dr. Skinner, who persuades Billy to hand it over, promising to deliver it himself. Skinner never does. Instead, he tells Chrissie that Billy abandoned her and tells Billy that Chrissie refuses to see him. He sends Chrissie to Ireland to stay with her aunt Kathleen McBride on a remote farm. Billy tells Chrissie's mother, Mabel, about the letter and his proposal. Mabel promises to write to Chrissie, but that night she trips in the blackout, is struck by a car, and dies.

In Ireland, Chrissie arrives at Kathleen's primitive farmhouse near the Galtee Mountains and befriends Jackie Creevy, a kind orphaned farmhand. At Christmas, she confides her pregnancy to Jackie, who vows to care for her. Kathleen later falls ill with tuberculosis and dies the following November, leaving the farm to Jackie. Father Drummond, the local priest, reveals that Kathleen arranged for Chrissie to give birth at St. Bridget's Sacred Heart Convent, and Chrissie reluctantly agrees to go.

Back in 1973, Tina traces Chrissie's family. An elderly neighbor tells her Mabel died in the blackout and Chrissie was sent to Ireland. Alice Stirling, Billy's adoptive mother, reveals Billy was killed in action in 1940 and gives Tina a photograph of him. Tina then discovers she is pregnant from the night Rick assaulted her. Rick appears reformed, so Tina moves back in, but his controlling behavior and violence quickly return. One evening, he finds Billy's letter in her handbag. Seeing "My darling Christina," he assumes Tina is having an affair and, in a drunken rage, punches her and strikes her pregnant stomach. Graham finds Tina unconscious and calls an ambulance. The baby, a girl, is stillborn. Tina names her Katy and says goodbye. Rick, having learned from Alice that Billy died decades ago, realizes his mistake, writes "Sorry" on the back of the letter, and leaves. Police later inform Tina that Rick has been found dead beside the Ship Canal.

In 1974, William Lane, 31, travels from his adoptive family's farm in Vermont to Ireland seeking his birth mother. His adoption papers identify her as Bronagh Skinner. At the convent, a midwife named Grace Quinn remembers his mother as the only English girl ever admitted; her real name was Christina, and Bronagh was a saint's name assigned upon entry. Grace advises William to find Chrissie's birth certificate in Manchester.

At Manchester's Central Library, William discovers that a copy of the certificate has already been ordered by a Mrs. Tina Craig. He waits and introduces himself. Over coffee, Tina produces the letter, which she recovered from the house after Rick's death, and they piece the story together. The certificate reveals the maiden name McBride, the key to locating the aunt's farm. William asks Tina to accompany him to Ireland, and she agrees.

In Tipperary, they spend days asking about the McBride family with no success. The elderly Father Drummond recognizes their story but, honoring a deathbed promise to Kathleen, claims he remembers nothing. On their final evening, a local trader named Pat finds them at their guest house and directs them to Briar Farm, where Chrissie has lived with Jackie for 35 years, though she has never given him her heart, still haunted by the belief that Billy abandoned her.

When Chrissie sees William in the farmyard, his resemblance to Billy is so striking she mistakes him for her lost love. Jackie gently explains that this is Billy's son, her son. Inside, Chrissie reads the letter for the first time, 35 years after it was written, and learns Billy loved her and never abandoned her. William tells her that Mabel died days after Chrissie left and that her father concealed both the letter and her mother's death. Chrissie grieves for Billy anew when she learns he was killed in the war, but she now holds his photograph and knows she was loved.

The next morning, Chrissie sees Jackie as the loyal man who waited decades for her and wraps her arms around him. William and Tina return to their separate countries. Months later, William writes that Chrissie and Jackie have married. His letter ends with a proposal: He asks Tina to come to America and be his wife. An elderly man enters the charity shop holding the old suit, and Tina chases him down the street. He is Dr. Skinner, who admits he intercepted the letter, pocketed it, and forgot about it. Tina tells him the consequences of his actions and that Chrissie is finally happy. After he leaves, Tina rereads William's proposal and whispers, "Thanks, Billy," acknowledging that the unposted letter led her to the love of her life.

In the epilogue, the grandmother is revealed as Tina, now living in Vermont. She looks across the lawn at her husband, William, who snips a rose and mouths "I love you." Their paths crossed because of a letter that was never posted.