Dear Missing Friend

I love epistolary novels and this was no exception. Irish immigrant Catherine McGuirk has high hopes for America. She longs to be a governess and embrace life in America. She eagerly writes her family back in Ireland, her childhood best friend, and Patrick, one of the people she bonded with on the voyage over. As the years pass she finds herself writing her brothers, new American friends, and soon a beau. She loses loved ones to whaling, the gold rush, and other nineteenth century ailments. Dear Missing Friend spans decades, friendships, and family and really illustrates what life was like in New York City in the mid to late nineteenth century. I also thought it was interesting that the author very loosely based this off her family's history. Unique and captivating!