Now that I have finished this book I am struggling to review it. It is beautifully written, the characters quirky and the locations well described. But..maybe because I was expecting a different sort of story I was a little disappointed with the one I got. I was expecting William to be on the trail of undeliverable letters, which he was at the beginning, but then he became lost and had to find his own way in life again.
William works in a Dead Letter Depot in London where he feels a spiritual connection to the lost letters. As he becomes connected to a series of letters written by 'Winter' his own marriage unravels and his writing creativity dries up. As the search for The Great Love progresses, William doubts the relationship he has with his wife Claire and becomes more fixated with finding letter writer Winter.

I enjoyed some aspects of this book more than others. William’s job, and then obsession, in the office of list letters was wonderful and I wanted much more of that, the sleuthing of the letters and delivering them.
However the book became more about the strained marriage between William & Claire and in that relationship I liked neither of them and thought they deserved all the problems they ‘suffered’
I also read and reread the ending three times and i’m still not quite sure how it resolved.
So much promise that just didn’t quite deliver.

A love story emerging from unusual circumstances.

William and Clare have been married for fifteen years and their relationship is slowly falling apart. He is a failed novelist, now working in the Dead Letters Depot trying to trace the recipients for all the letters that have gone astray. Clare is an ambitious and successful career lawyer, refusing to have the baby William so desperately wants.

The crux of the story turns on William finding a set of letters addressed to “My great love” from a mysterious woman called Winter. These letters are odd because Winter indicates they are addressed to an unknown man who she has yet to find. With his own marriage having failed, William becomes obsessed with this woman and has the strange belief the letters are somehow addressed to him. When he and Clare reach a crisis in their relationship William decides to go in pursuit of Winter, being guided by the hints and descriptions included in her letters. What follows is a long search and a good deal of soul-searching for William as he tries to decide between Clare, who he once loved so passionately, and this strange new woman that he feels drawn to.

This is a clever idea and the dead letters department provides an unusual background for a story. I wish there could have been more details of the lost letter cases and the triumph of matching the letter to the recipient. Instead, the concentration was on William’s search for Winter, which took him to many different places, all of which were written up in great detail. I did find my interest waning halfway through and after the very long search, the ending was rather tame and contrived.

An interesting first novel but not really compelling.

Jane

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

A marvellous whimsical book about lost love letters and the letter detectives that attempt to reunite those precious letters and other lost items. They attempt to decipher bad handwriting,find addresses that are incomplete and return unusual lost properties to their rightful owners,with varying results. That would be a fascinating job!
William Woolf has spent the last 11 years doing that very job. It is a safe and intriguing task,but he initially wanted to become an author. He tries to reunite other people with their lost memories,whilst seemingly oblivious to his own struggling and faltering marriage to Clare.
Clare wants more from her life and is angry that William has not yet written his much promised novel. He lied to her about his novel,all he had managed to achieve were short stories. She leaves on a short break,so they can both decide what is important to them both.
William finds some beautiful purple envelopes at work,addressed to My Great Love,and reads them. These missives mirror his feelings about Clare,his longing for the perfect life he doesn't have. The letters are from a lady named Winter,and remind William of happy,carefree days when he first met and fell in love with Clare.
It is a story about following your dreams and being content in your own skin. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Clare has always wanted to do art,she picks up pencils and sketch pad,and regains a sense of achievement in her new found hobby. William wanted to explore places associated with King Arthur and Merlin,he follows his ambitions and learns much about being yourself along the way.
Letters have the power to change lives,and this is a love story based upon that premise. I found it to be a satisfying read and a reminder that the simple pleasures are the best. Perfect holiday reading and a lovely work of escapism. I became really intrigued by Winter,and hoped she found her ideal love. The conclusion,one year and a day later asks the question,who did Clare choose?
I have posted this review to Goodreads today. A most intriguing read,thank you.

A well written strangely mimsy book which was not my usual reading style, but I really enjoyed it.

With several twists and turns and bemusing short cuts this book is worth the read for it's uniqueness alone.

This is an unusual novel about William who works in the Lost Letter department of the Post Office. His wife is a high flying solicitor, but longs to become an artist. She doesn't want children, but William thinks their lives may improve if they become parents.
He is desperate to write a book about the lost letters, and particularly is drawn to some from a woman called Winter. He doesn't really understand who, or what she is, but grabs details from three or four letters and starts to look for her.
He and his wife separate, but discover that they cannot really live without each other.
The characters in this book are well described, and the plot, although sometimes stretches belief, is well-thought out.
Thank you 5to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.

I was intrigued by the idea of the lost letters depot and the efforts that William and the other ‘detectives’ would go to in tracing the intended recipients. The ‘greatest love’ letters felt so personal, almost like I was reading someone’s diary and in a way I could understand William’s fascination with them. I was less engaged by the story of William’s personal life for some reason and it does feature largely throughout the book.

This is the story of William Woolf, who works in the Lost Letters department of the Post Office, ensuring that letters and parcels wrongly addressed or with the address missing, find their way. William is married to Claire, who was is great love, but now they barely tolerate each other. When William finds a series of letters un-addressed but just written to ‘My Great Love’ they call to his heart. The writing is good, and the various letter and parcel finds interesting, and William’ relationship with Claire is all too real, I just found the ending a little rushed. However a good book which will leave you guessing until the end.

William Woolf works in the Lost Letters Department and is a letter detective trying to reunite letters and parcels with their recipients. William finds a letter addressed to 'My Great Love' and decides, that even though he is married, this might be him. William follows clues to find the writer and at the same time as this journey he examines his own marriage.
It is a tale of love, loss and self discovery and I thoroughly enjoyed the book and if you enjoyedThe Keeper of Lost Things you will enjoy this book too.

The synopsis sounded like it would be quite an interesting, amusing book to read but I found it the total opposite and couldn't wait to finish it so I could read something better.

What a beautiful book; the author carefully weaves the task of finding recipients of lost mail with a very moving love story. I relished very page and will be recommending it to everyone I know. This book captured my heart with its warmth and wonderfully real characters. A bestseller for certain.

The synopsis of the book intrigued me and I was looking forward to a whimsical journey through the inventory of the lost letters dept. with a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

What a disappointment! The Lost Letters Dept. itself was reduced to what amounted to lists of the type of mail that ended up there, and was never fully brought to life. The suggested love story was little more than an infatuation with a handful of letters, and the only real relationship in the book - that of William and his wife, Claire - was on the brink of collapse and made for quite a depressing, ploddingly slow read. In fact, I really had to force myself to finish the book. The ending was ambiguous, but by that point I really could have cared less and was just glad to be able to start something new.

I think that there was an interesting idea that could have been brought to life as a collection of short stories focussing on the Lost Letters Dept. to be dipped in and out of.

Not one for me unfortunately. My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

A superb read. The lost letters department keeps coming up with snatches of different stories, each one has its own interest, whilst alongside that we have the story of the man who deals with the lost letters and his marriage. But when a series of letters start arriving that are meant for him its hard to call which way the story is going to twist and keeps you engaged with the plot until the last pages. I would buy and recommend this book, I found the idea of being a detective of lost letters and parcels one that was quite inspirational - each day a new sack of treasure to sift through.

Very touching, evocative and well written. Lovely to see Larry Gogan's Just A Minute Quiz immortalised! I found the ending a little confusing and abrupt though but would recommend.

I loved the idea of the title 'The Lost Letters of William Woolf'. I imagined all sorts of mysterious lost letters. In fact I would have preferred the focus to be more about the stories behind the letters. I did not really become engrossed or particularly engaged in the story. I found the two main characters to be dull - the characters in the office with William deserved more page space. Not one I will remember for long.

A dead letters depot - what an exciting hoard of undelivered messages with so many mysteries. I just had to read this and was not disappointed. A must-read for romantics, but those who want a setting that is firmly seated in the sometimes harsh realities of a struggling relationship. The characters are strong and carry the story to a satisfying conclusion., Sometimes William's quest seems worryingly obsessive but this also compelled me to read on.

This started really strongly and I loved the premise of the letter detectives, I really want to think they actually exist. I found the story started to drag in the middle section and then got very bogged down in not very relevant details. I also didn’t like the rushed ending. Nevertheless I did enjoy most of the story and cared about the characters. I’d say it’s worth giving it a try.
I was given a ARC by NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book. It’s refreshing and different, portraying how a marriage can go wrong even if the couple love each other. I loved the idea of the lost letters and would have enjoyed reading more of the stories behind the letters. I did feel the pace slowed a bit in the middle but I wanted to read on to see what happened and I’m glad I did. An interesting read.

This was rather disappointing for me, as I found it quite slow and unremarkable to get into. I found it frustratingly pedestrian at the beginning and didn't engage me in the characters or their story as I had hoped. I found I didn't particularly care about either in the end.

A bit of a curate's egg for me - good and bad in parts. I loved the idea of the letter detectives (I think they may exist in real life!), and I loved the extracts of letters that we got to see. I loved the descriptions of people and places, and the way that William was so devoted to his work in his special section.

I liked some of the characters (but not Claire), particularly William, Marjorie and Winter.

What I didn't like was the chapter before the ending - which I will not give away here - it just felt too rushed, and made no sense to me really, but maybe that's just me.

All in all I enjoyed this, but am giving it a 3-star (possibly 3.5 stars) due to the ending section(s).

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.