Second World War love letters inspire story of couple’s life
When Kathy Page’s parents were in their 90s, she read love letters that her father had written to her mother during the Second World War.
These letters sparked a curiosity in the Giller-nominated British author, who’s made her home on Salt Spring Island, B.C. since 2001. How does a youthful romance between two very different people evolve over decades of marriage? Page’s answer to that question is “Dear Evelyn,” an ambitious, and highly literary, historical fiction outing.
The story opens in a working-class London neighbourhood in the aftermath of the First World War. Harry Miles is a sensitive soul and a scholarship student consumed with poetry. Evelyn Hill, meanwhile, is consumed with the chaos of her home, where her mother coddles her and her alcoholic father. When Harry and Evelyn meet by chance in front of the Battersea library, he is immediately smitten by her beauty and self-possession. For her part, Evelyn is drawn to Harry’s reliability and stability, and, of course, his adoration. In short: He is the opposite of her drunken father, whose shadow haunts her entire life, and, indeed, this entire book.
What follows is a chronicle of the couple’s 70-year union, which sees them survive the Second World War, experiencing dramatic moments in bomb shelters during the Blitz and long separations as Harry serves overseas, sending a flood of letters (Page borrows lines from her own father’s letters). The pair raise three daughters, enter the middle class, navigate the turbulence of the 1960s and ’70s, and confront the indignities of old age.
As the years progress, their relationship becomes increasingly complex. Harry’s devotion leads him to become a doormat; Evelyn’s self-assuredness solidifies into a volatile, fury-filled narcissism.
Throughout, the writing is remarkable, masterfully weaving together the personal and the political. The backdrop of global conflict infuses the story with urgency, drama and the exotic appeal of foreign travel, while the intimate maneuverings of the characters oscillate between tenderness and profound despair.
“I’m certainly not against positive change, but it seems to me that we sometimes forget that even difficult, seemingly dysfunctional relationships may be precious and sustaining — and sometimes we just don’t care about what is fair or reasonable, “Page said in a release from her publisher. “Dear Evelyn” forces readers to decide if they agree.