Synopsis:

Dive into the curious correspondence of Sylvie Cathrall’s delightful debut novel, A Letter to the Luminous Deep.

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other.

Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.’s home, and she and Henerey vanish.

A year later, E.’s sister Sophy, and Henerey’s brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery of their siblings’ disappearances with the letters, sketches and field notes left behind. As they uncover the wondrous love their siblings shared, Sophy and Vyerin learn the key to their disappearance – and what it could mean for life as they know it.

Perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and TJ Klune, A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a whimsical epistolary fantasy set in a mystical underwater world with mystery and heart-warming romance.

Rating:

Review:

As evidenced by how quickly I breezed through this book (only halfway done on Friday), it was a lovely read. This book quickly introduces us to our two main characters. The introverted, brilliant, troubled “E”. She lives in an underwater home known as the Deep House. One day she spots a creature through her porthole that she’s never seen before. Struck by its beauty she writes to a well known natural Scholar that she admires, Henerey. The two strike up a correspondence about these creatures and what they could be, and then it moves into more of a general conversation about their lives and interests. The interesting part is that we only learn about E and Henerey through their letters to each other, and to and from their siblings. Even when they meet in person, the only details we know about it are what E shared with her sister, Sophy, about the evening.

Later, when Sophy and Vyerin start to unravel the mystery of what happened to their missing siblings, we also only follow their correspondence with each other. The entire book is told in letters between the characters, occasional excerpts from Henerey’s journals, and a few transcriptions from other scholarly works within the world. It’s an inventive way to tell a story. I also imagine it was quite difficult to write.

Because of the writing style the characters are full of depth and personality. I learned intently who each of these individuals are, and I grew to adore each of them immensely. I also enjoyed that both of the main protagonists deal with mental health concerns or are otherwise neurodivergent. As a neurodivergent individual myself I found it very relatable and genuine. The character building in this novel was top notch. I can’t say enough good things about that aspect. However, the writing did present a challenge when it came to world building. There’s a lot of things that I feel were left out. At the end of the book I knew so little about E and Henerey’s world. And the main culprit to that is the writing style. If E is writing to Henerey, she doesn’t need to explain to him the history of their civilization, he already knows. But I would like it explained to me, because I don’t know. It’s a unique challenge. I feel like the author tried to overcome this with the excerpts from scholarly books in the book, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to know more. I hope we get more in upcoming books.

The romance in the story was sweet and simple. E and Henerey flirted with each other through their individual interests. They each showed an enormous amount of restraint and respect for the other’s boundaries. For example, even after they agreed to meet in person Henerey told her “If you change your mind, even if I’m already on my way, just put a sign in your window that says NO HENEREY and I’ll leave and think none the worse for it.” It was so cute, and so romantic. Each of them met the other exactly where they were capable of existing, and both were content with it. Sigh. I think I might have fallen in love with these two also. They are just so adorable and relatable.

The mystery in the book was intriguing. I started putting the pieces together fairly early, but it didn’t make the journey any less enjoyable. Even though I knew where it was headed, I still enjoyed watching Sophy and Vyerin put those same pieces together. And at the end, we finished one piece of the adventure and looked to the horizon for the start of the next adventure. You can’t ask for a much better ending than that.