Twenty-Six Letters is the fifth stand-alone novel by British-born Australian author, Charlotte Nash. When she’s about to turn thirty-one, Wilhelmina Mann is handed a bundle of letters by her family’s solicitor. Each addressed to Mina, they were written by her late mother, one meant to be given to Wil on each birthday until she turned eighteen, but they were withheld by her well-meaning but ever-critical father.

As she reads them, she begins to wonder if she might have led less of a train crash life with the benefit of her mother’s words. Might she have become the sort of admirable person her mother was convinced she would by now be? The final letter inspires a mission to recover a further set of letters left for her in the tiny Lincolnshire village where her mother grew up, something she is only able to do courtesy of cash from her kind younger half-brother.

In South Bandinby, Wil is a little surprised that the locals are less than friendly, suspicious even, believing her an associate of “that man”. Then she has a very embarrassing encounter involving nettles and a pond, with an attractive man of whom the villagers strongly disapprove and are openly hostile towards. Apparently David Hunter, who lives in the cottage by the church, hosts a TV history program, but the local Lord has made it plain that his interest in the village church is unwelcome.

When the letters are not where she expects to find them, Wil is ready to give up, but reluctantly allows David to help her research her mother’s past. But someone in the village clearly knows about the letters, and makes sure that Wil gets the first, whetting her appetite to know more about her mother’s young romance. Wil is in no way prepared for the explosive secrets those letters hold.

When an author can have the reader empathising with her protagonist to the point of tears welling up in the early pages, she must be doing something right. How and why Wil’s life has progressed in the manner and to the stage that it has, is gradually unravelled as the family’s history is revealed through her mother’s letters.

Nash gives the reader appealing characters, endows them with wise words and insightful observations and involves them in a wholly credible plot. Comedy, tragedy, romance and a heart-warming, uplifting resolution: what’s not to love?
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Allen & Unwin.