Cover Image: The Lost Letter

The Lost Letter

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Member Reviews

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

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The Lost Letter was an enjoyable read.
We follow Addy on her travels to Morocco following the discovery of a letter from her father after his recent death indicating a lost love she knew nothing about.
I think anyone travelling alone is very brave and it’s something I can’t imagine ever doing. People who do fascinate me. Morocco sounds like a fascinating place too and Addy seems to settle there quite quickly, especially with the help of local tour guide, Omar. She soon finds herself immersed in their culture and family life, but the time soon flies, and she starts to run out of weeks to find the answers she’s looking for. Someone must remember her father and the woman he fell for back in 1984.
I enjoyed following Addy on her journey to the truth. I did think she was far more patient than I would be though when it was obvious people knew more than they were letting on.
I loved the relationship between Addy and her sister.
My only niggle with this book was that I thought it could probably have been shorter.
The ending was a complete surprise. I’d be interested to know what happened next.

**Many thanks to the author and publisher for my review copy via NetGalley**

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My first book by this author and it won’t be my last!

Such a wonderful story set in beautiful surroundings you can really get your head lost in it

Highly recommended

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I honestly could not have cared less for this book, when I originally requested to read this book I really wanted to be interested and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and spread my wings. But in the end I couldn’t pick up this book and I doubt I will ever.

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A nice story but it dragged for me and I had to force myself to pick it up at times. I didn't get pulled into the story and I felt it was very slow. Which is a shame it had the potential to be epic with its sweeping Moroccan backdrop...

Thank-you Avon Books UK & Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐

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Loved being able to immerse myself in Morocco throughout this book - the vivid imagery left little work for my brain to create such a beautiful world with an even more amazing story full of forbidden romance and mysterious family secrets.

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I enjoyed this book, it was a nice change to what I usually read. I felt as though I learnt a lot about Morocco too and their people

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When Addys' father dies she discovers a letter and photo of her father and a woman. The story is set in Morocco and Addy travels there to try and find the identity of the woman and her relationship to her father. Lots of detail about Morocco and it reads like a travel guide. Interesting but I didn't really feel involved.

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I found this book an enjoyable read overall, but a lot of my enjoyment came from reading about the landscape and culture of Morrocco rather than from the story itself.
I can understand and sympathise with Addy's need to get away from it all and experience a different lifestyle. The discovery of the letter from her father gave her the push she needed to escape the past and reinvent herself.
I really disliked the relationship that developed between Addy and Omar. In the beginning, it seemed so full of life and hope but before long he is busy telling her what she can and cannot do and she is allowing him to get away with such behaviour.
Although it emphasises the difficulties of cross-cultural relationships and shows that in many ways nothing has moved forward since her father fell in love with a Moroccan woman it felt contrived.

As I said, overall I enjoyed the book but it is not one I would go back and re-read.

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Morocco, 1984. High in the Atlas Mountains, Hanane’s love for Irishman Gus is forbidden. Forced to flee her home with the man she loves, Hanane is certain she’s running towards her destiny. But she has made a decision that will haunt her family for years to come.

London, 2009. When Addy discovers a mysterious letter in her late father’s belongings, she journeys to Morocco in search of answers. But instead, she finds secrets – and is quickly pulled into a world that she doesn’t understand.

And when history starts to repeat itself, it seems her journey might just change the person she is forever…

A heartbreaking story of impossible love and dark family secrets.

I enjoyed this book, but I did think it was a bit short on the story behind Addy's visit to Morocco: her father's and Hanane's story. 3.5*

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I read this following a short visit to Morocco and the author's description of the country are beautifully written.It would appeal to fans of Victoria Hislop.
Addy receives a letter written by her father,following his death but written many years before and with the last page missing.In it he tells her he has fallen in love with a Moroccan woman,Hanane. Addy decides to go to Morocco to investigate what happened to the woman.She becomes involved with a local guide ,Omar ,but can't get to the bottom of what happened between her father and Hanane,who no-one claims to know anything about.
The book tells of the developing relationship between Omar and Addy ,and jumps back in time to tell the story of her father and Hanane and eventually reveals why no one wants to talk about it to Addy. I have to say I found the character of Omar extremely irritating and couldn't understand why Addy got into the relationship,given that she is portrayed as a very independent woman and he seemed very controlling,trying to stop her doing the things she wanted- it didn't ring true for me.The story of Gus,her father, and Hanane was more interesting but featured less,
It would be a good holiday read ,particularly for anyone going to Morocco.Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.All opinions here are my own.

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Reading the blurb I thought The Lost Letter from Morocco by Adrienne Chinn sounded an interesting book set in a country I know very little about. The setting in Morocco is well described, although in places it comes across as more of a travel and cultural guide than a novel and I liked that much more than the rest of the book. So, I’m sad to say that this book did not live up to my expectations and it was a disappointment.

Set in two time frames the narrative moves between Addy’s and Haldane’s stories. In 2009 Addy is recovering from cancer and conscious of how short life can be she has decided to sell her flat, leave Nigel, her cheating boyfriend, and her job in a photography shop to work on a travel book. Her father had recently died and in his belongings she finds an unfinished letter addressed to her from him, together with several photos of Morocco, including a photo of him with an arm around a young woman. On the back of the photo her father had written ‘Zitoune waterfalls, Morocco, August 1984 – with Hanane.‘ Haldane is clearly pregnant. Seeing her father’s photos of Morocco she decides that is the place to go to try to find out what had happened to Haldane and at the same time to work on her travel book.

I was keen to find out what Addy would discover. However, what followed is a rambling and repetitive story about Addy and Omar, a tour guide, and their relationship. It was slowed down with too much detail and I began to lose interest and at several points I almost abandoned the book. Omar is a an annoying character, bossy and possessive with Addy, who for a 40 year old woman is incredibly naive, even given that she is recovering from cancer and from her broken relationship with Nigel. I was much more interested in Gus and Haldane’s story and was frustrated by having to wade through the details of Addy’s and Omar’s relationship as she discovered what had happened in 1984. The twist at the end made me even more disappointed that the story had not focused on Haldane’s story.

My thanks to the publishers, Avon Books UK for my review copy via NetGalley.

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A wonderful read full of great characters and beautiful settings. There’s something quite captivating about this story. For me it was a perfect holiday read.

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What a delightful book this is. I loved it from the first page to the last.
I could feel the warmth of the Moroccan sun as I turned each page. Particularly endearing was how, when one of the Moroccan characters was speaking, the author had written it in a way you might expect someone to speak, who didn't have English as their first language. This made it so much more believable and charming.

It's a passionate story, where we experience the trials of love between different races, beliefs and even generations. I couldn't read it quickly enough. I was enchanted. When I reached the last sentence, I was desperate for the story to continue and had a real pang of regret that it was over!

Beautifully written.

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I don’t usually read romantic fiction but I figured I’d give this a shot. I liked the title and the front cover and the blurb sounded quite good. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t quite work for me. The book is easy enough to read. I loved the setting in Morocco. This is the best part of the book. There is a lot of intrigue in the book. I love books with secrets simmering beneath the surface. I enjoyed it when Addy heads to Morocco to get to the bottom of the secrets she’s uncovered and finds more questions. The thing that really let the book down is the characters. They were all just okay. I didn’t feel very engaged or connected to them. Also, the book meanders quite a bit and becomes almost a ramble and got quite dull at times. The book is just okay.

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This is the story of Addy who lives in London and has breast cancer. During a break from her chemotherapy treatment, she comes across a lost letter in which her late father reveals that he had fallen in love with a Moroccan woman. Together with the letter she also finds pictures of her father and the Moroccan woman where it appears the woman might have been pregnant.

Determined to find answers to this mystery, she decides to travel to Morocco to follow in her father's footsteps and hopefully meet her half-sibling. In Morocco, she meets a Berber who starts out as her tour guide but soon develops into something else.

The Lost Letter From Morocco is the typical example of a novel that has all the elements to be a great read. Exotic place, the possibility of romance, a character battling severe illness, you get the idea. However, it failed to deliver it. I struggled with the end which I thought did not do service to the rest of the novel. It was not the type of book I expected to be.

I’d like to thank Avon Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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A wonderful mesmerising story of love and intrigue with wonderful descriptions of Morocco.
Vivid description make you feel that you are actually on holiday there alongside Addy whilst she follows the truth of her fathers time there and if she has a brother or sister alive.
Beautiful to read

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It is 2009 and Canadian born but living in London Addy is battling breastcancer. While on chemotherapy her half sister visits her in hospital and hands her some paperwork that belonged to their recently died father. It is part of a letter in which father Gus writes to Addy he had fallen in love with a Moroccan woman. The letter is written in the 1980ties but was never send. With the letter come a few old Polaroid pictures her father had snapped while travelling through Morocco. On one of them she notices hands wearing her mother's old wedding ring. On another is a woman who is definitely pregnant.

As her boyfriend just had showed his true colours by screwing around while she was diagnosed with cancer and her photographer business went belly up Addy decides to go on adventure and follow in her father's footsteps and maybe find a sibling her father never mentioned. She goes to Morocco thinking she can use the trip for a photobook about the country.

The novel was appealing to me on so many levels:
- Addy - my mother's name
- breastcancer at 40 - been there
- Morocco - seen that
- local boyfriend - had one (in Jordan)
- people having better things to do when you are very ill - alas met those as well

So maybe it was more interesting to me than to an average person. I recognised the local sites even when the falls were renamed.

There were a couple of things that could have been done better:

- breastcancer: Well mine was very very severe so that might be different but it is odd she never is fearful afterwards. You are not cured just because treatment is over.

- boyfriend - somehow he just seems bossy and not so attractive

- the ending: That did suck big time!!! The last couple of pages ruined the plot in my opinion because it made all the other shenanigans not logical anymore. (Or I missed something????)

Nevertheless: still a nice book to read

4 stars out of 5

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Addy travels to morocco to try to unravel the mystery of her father's visit there and his previously unknown family. Based in 2009, the novel shows the difference in the moroccan culture concerning women and her life in London. Interesting reading, well written.

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After the death of her estranged father Addy receives a partly written letter and pictures of a pregnant women with her father that were taken in 1984 in Morocco. Intrigued she decides to take a trip out there to see if she can find out about this history. While out there she is shown around by a Berber tour guide Omer and as she gets to know him she starts to develop feelings.... is it history repeating itself..... but there is a wall of silence about her quest for information on her father.

An interesting book, a bit slow moving, about different cultures and the issues resulting from liaisons, but also great descriptions of Morocco within two different timelines.

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