Publication Date: October 31, 2023
Mere words can’t end their families’ feud, but the Campbell heir and the Bradshaw heiress plan to write a future together.
Buffalo, NY, 1924
Laura Bradshaw adores stories with happily ever afters. But since her mother died seven years ago, the Bradshaw Shoe Company heiress has been as good as locked away in a tower. Her overbearing father cares little for her dreams, throwing himself instead into his tireless takedown of his competitor, the Campbell Shoe Company. However, Laura has been gifted with a reprieve: a mysterious friend with whom she’s been exchanging letters.
As heir to the Campbell Shoe Company, Isaac Campbell is a sought-after bachelor who has never felt an inkling of desire for the women who constantly bat their eyes at him. His thoughts are consumed by an oak tree in the Buffalo Zoo—or rather, the mystery woman he exchanges letters with courtesy of the tree. She’s been one of Isaac’s only joys in a life consumed by his father’s tireless hatred of Bradshaw. A hatred that, Isaac is coming to realize, may affect him more personally than he ever imagined.
When Laura’s father orchestrates a match between her and an important business owner, she resolves to pursue her only chance at freedom. But Isaac believes their story isn’t bound for a tragic ending. He’s certain there’s more to the Bradshaw-Campbell feud than meets the eye. And he won’t stop digging until he uncovers the truth that might bridge the divide between him and the woman whose words have captured his heart.
Rachel Fordham pens a spellbinding love story in The Letter Tree. A feud between best friends and owners of the Bradshaw and Campbell shoe factories affects not only the owners but their children as well.
Laura Bradshaw and Isaac Campbell, best friends growing up, are suddenly forced apart and told they can have nothing to do with the other. Distraught at her mother’s death and the loss of her dear friend, Isaac, Laura pours her heart into a letter, which she hides in what she comes to call “The Letter Tree.”
Unbeknownst to Laura, Isaac Campbell is the special someone who finds her letter and writes back. This simple act begins a years-long relationship where neither knows who the other is, but both reveal their inner thoughts and desires to the other through their letters. Content not to know who the other is, Isaac is suddenly alarmed to learn that his pen pal, Laura, is being forced to go out with someone else as leverage in a business deal of her father’s. Isaac comes to realize he has fallen in love with his “letter girl” and seeks a way to meet her.
Both Laura and Isaac become acutely aware of what they truly seek in life and, when presented with alternatives, realize their letter-writing friend is the one who ultimately fulfills their longings and heart desires. Through close encounters and navigating other relationships, will they be able to find their way to each other and the happiness they seek in the special someone they’ve already fallen in love with but have never met?
Set during the prohibition era of the early 1920s, Rachel Fordham’s The Letter Tree is a beautifully written, gentle romance that tells the tender story of two young people seeking love and a life worthy of each other and the realization of each of their inward callings. The pacing is perfect, the world-building extraordinary, and the story is both touching and fulfilling.
Beautifully told and extraordinarily well written, The Letter Tree is a story that will linger in your heart long after the last word is read.
Rachel Fordham is the author of Where the Road Bends, A Lady in Attendance, A Life Once Dreamed, The Hope of Azure Springs, and Yours Truly, Thomas. Fans expect stories with heart and she delivers, diving deep into the human experience and tugging at reader emotions. She loves connecting with people, traveling to new places, and daydreaming about future projects that will have sigh-worthy endings and memorable characters. She is a busy mom, raising both biological and foster children (a cause she feels passionate about). She lives with her husband and children on an island in the state of Washington.
