Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog on my day of the ‘A Letter From Sarah’ blog tour! Thank you to Kelly for having me on-board te tour for this brilliant read, and to Urbane Publications for gifting me a copy of the book in preparation of the tour in exchange for an honest review.
‘A Letter From Sarah’ was published by Urbane Publications on the 7th of March 2019 in paperback and ebook format for your reading pleasure. Click here to be transported!
Dan Proops has been a full time writer for six years and has completed four novels and a memoir. Previous to this he was a professional artist, organising a one man show at the age of fourteen. He has had many exhibitions over a long career and his artwork was purchased by internationally acclaimed art dealer, Eric Franck. His artwork appeared frequently in the national press and his painting was featured in Image of the Week in the Times. One of his exhibitions was previewed in the Telegraph by columnist Colin Gleadell. Dan is a Twitter influencer and has a following of 22,000; last year 1.2 million people read his tweets, and he currently attends the advanced writing class at Morley College, run by the renowned radio four dramatist Mike Walker. Dan Proops is also the grandson of legendary advice columnist, Marjorie Proops. He lives and works in London.
I loved the cover of ‘A Letter From Sarah’, who doesn’t love an appeasing cover? And as always, the blurb:
“Adam’s sister, Sarah, has been missing for seven years, but he hasn’t given up hope of finding her. He is a sculptor and lives with his bedridden father who is a bully and a curmudgeon.
One morning, as the anniversary of Sarah’s disappearance nears, Adam receives a letter from her and she is apparently alive and well, living in New York. Adam travels to Brooklyn to search for Sarah as he’s desperate to see her, but she seems determined to avoid him.
Sarah’s letters arrive weekly, but she continues to remain elusive. Adam is perplexed by Sarah’s requests for secrecy, as is his father and his girlfriend, Cassandra.
He is determined to find her, whatever the cost to his wellbeing, health and sanity….”
My Thoughts
Adam lives at home with his overbearing father, he is his sole carer as they both try to overcome the grief – Sarah, Adam’s sister went missing, never to be seen again alive or dead. Both men are broken and live around each-other in some sort of awkward, emotionally restricting dance. Adam is an artist, one who has no motivation and no money, hence living under his fathers roof. I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in a sad way for both these men; they have lost something and due to that they are both broken men. That is until Adam begins to receive letters from Sarah who appears to have runaway and now lives her life in the states. The letters contain personal details about their childhood, her life now and how he must not tell anyone about the letters, she doesn’t want to be found. You can’t help to feel relieved for him.
You can’t help but immediately fall for Adam’s character, he has a kind heart and all he wants is his sister. He was hounded after she disappeared – accused of kidnapping and murdering her. His friend Nigel also needs somewhere to stay ‘for a few days’ – he is more than welcoming, even when there’s a few occasions when I as a reader felt as though Adam was being gaslighted and manipulated by his friend. I was gobsmacked but Adam let it slide because his ‘friend’ had nowhere to go. So yes, two thumbs up for Adam, my heart aches for him at times.
Dan Proops writing of ‘A Letter From Sarah’ left me with chills as well as being suspicious the whole way through the book. The book I think flows really well, you get some twists, elevated heart rate, aw well as sadness entwined within the narrative without all the unneeded fillers, it’s perfect as it is and such an easy read in the sense of no over complications. I think the letters allowed the narrative to be opened up to a more emotional level which really worked for the storyline!
The book also underlined themes which included grief and the wellbeing of people that are left behind. This touched me on an emotional level; how to overcome that loss and how to reconnect with family while trying to understand the situation yourself. Dan articulated the book really well!
All in all, a bloody fantastic read. I was on the cusp of a book slump when I picked up this read, I was quickly drawn in…. The slump had lifted, and I devoured it in a day! Have you read ‘A Letter From Sarah’? Is it on your TBR pile? Let me know on all accounts!
Thankyou again Kelly for the opportunity to read a novel from an author that I may not have found if it wasn’t for your dedication to blog tour organising! And to all you lovely readers, keep up to date with the blog tour to read more reviews from some awesome bloggers!!
The Reading Closet 