Book Review. “At This Juncture. A Book of Letters.”
The most recent #BookLoverPostcardSwap was all about sending a postcard and sharing a favorite book that featured mail in the story. It’s too bad I read “At this Juncture. A Book of Letters” after the swap as it would have been perfect.
When the book was published in April author Rona Altrows was kind enough to ‘gift’ me a copy. She knows I nerd out over anything related to snail mail.
Postage stamps will save the day
A heroine after my own heart, Ariadne Jensen, takes it upon herself to save Canada Post and she pens a letter to Deepak Chopra, CEO of Canada’s national postal service.
She proposes she will provide a series of ‘phony yet credible letters’ that will act as a gift-with-purchase that will entice people to buy postage stamps, and thus put Canada Post back in the black.
“Doesn’t my scheme make eminent sense? You see the hook. Reading letters makes people want to write their own letters, more and more of them, and send them all by post. And for that, they need stamps.”
Brilliant!
Letters to famous historical figures
As the reader you are invited to read Ariadne’s letters. How fun is that, reading someone else’s letters?!
Some of the letters in “At this Juncture. A Book of Letters” are from historical characters to their peers of the day, others are from Ariadne herself to a myriad of present day figures. One of my favorites is to Prince Charles from Ms. Jensen. As with many of the letters, this one was written with a keen whit and was very funny.
I hope Rona sent a copy to Mr. Chopra but I think he would do better to purchase a copy for himself. Who knows, he might receive another letter from Ariadne.
What historical character would you write a letter to?
Right now, because I’m reading her biography, I’d send a letter to Martha Gellhorn, war correspondent & consummate letter writer. Some of her letters were 14 pages long. And my friends think I write long letters! lol!
Hi there Cathy, Wow, 14 page letters, a prolific letter writer this Martha Gellhorn. I can only aspire to such length. 🙂 I can only imagine how interesting her return letter to you would be; no doubt she would have many stories to share. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.
I would write a letter to Van Cliburn, a classical pianist who won a major competition in Russia during the Cold War. I would thank him for using his incredible talents to build bridges across cultures – something we need lots of today!
Ann, thank you for educating me about this accomplished musician. I must see if any clips of his music exist. You are quite right, music does build bridges. Imagine if he responded to your letter?!
It’s gotta be to Prince Charles from Ms. Jensen! Sounds like a really cool book!
You are right, David! Thanks for reading. Sadly, I received an earlier msg with correct answer. However, if you would like to email me ‘ritewhileucan@gmail.com’ with your mailing address I would love to send you some mail.