Books with title The Spanish Letters

The letters included in this series comprise about three quarters of the collection in two volumes published in 1884 by her great-nephew Lord Brabourne. The lightness, almost friskiness, of their tone cannot fail to strike the reader. Modern letters written by women are filled more or less with hints and queries; questionings as to the why and the wherefore occur; allusions to the various "fads" of the day, literary or artistic,- Ibsen, Tolstoi, Browning, Esoteric Buddhism, Wagner's Music, the Mind Cure, Social Science, Causes and Reforms. But Cowper and Crabbe were the poetical sensations in Miss Austen's time, Scott and Byron its phenomenal novelties; it took months to get most books printed, and years to persuade anybody to read them. Furthermore the letters, in all probability, are carefully chosen to reveal only the more superficial side of their writer.

By the award-winning author of The FriendsWhen Chiaki learns of the death of her and her mother’s former landlady, Mrs. Yanagi, she feels compelled to go to the funeral, although she hasn’t seen Mrs. Yanagi in years. As she prepares for the trip, she also begins a journey through memory, beginning right after her father’s death, when her mother took an apartment at Poplar House. Chiaki, six at the time, is overwhelmed by the recent changes, falls ill, and cannot attend school. Mrs. Yanagi ends up looking after her during the daytime. The landlady initially frightens her new charge, but as Chiaki spends more time with her, the two begin to form an odd alliance. One day Mrs. Yanagi tells Chiaki that she has been charged with a divine mission to carry letters to the dead when she goes to the grave herself. Inspired, Chiaki then begins a tentative one-way correspondence with her father, diligently entrusting her letters to the landlady. And it’s through remembering this time of her life that the grown Chiaki is able to confront her confusion about who she is now.

When Chiaki learns that her mother’s former landlady, Mrs. Yanagi, has died, she decides to attend the funeral. The last time she saw Mrs. Yanagi was when she lived in her apartment building when she was a little girl. Chiaki takes a trip back through time and remembers what her life was like shortly after her father’s death. At first young Chiaki is scared of old Mrs. Yanagi, but as time goes on, they form a close relationship. Then Mrs. Yanagi reveals that she has a special mission in life. She will deliver letters to the dead when she herself passes away. She keeps the letters in a drawer and when it is filled, then she will die. She warns Chiaki that anyone else who looks in the drawer will carry the burden of delivering the letters instead of her. Chiaki starts writing letters to her father every day to overcome her loss. Years later, Chiaki is unprepared for the surprises that await her at Mrs. Yanagi’s funeral and the unexpected turn her life will take from that point on.