This was a lovely story with interesting people telling of their hopes and dreams in letters. A bit of a mystery is thrown into the mix in the last quarter. Just as in actual letters sent to strangers the characters become known bit by bit as they write about themselves, their lives, their ideas and opinions. In the same way, you will want to know more than is revealed.
Book groups will find the ongoing discussion of education, choosing a career and choosing a life path a worthy topic for discussion. Other good discussion topics might be courage in attempting or reacting to new things, revealing your past to a child, choosing to serve in the military or not, reactions to loss and family secrets and, finally, how a person's attitudes and dreams change as time passes. A question to consider might be "how long would YOU wait at St. Mary's Cathedral?"
These letters are generally short and deal with only one topic at a time so the comparison to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is not really valid.

At first I wasn't sure about reading a book in letter format, but got quickly caught up in the back and forth of the letters and really wanted to see where the characters would go, how they would get there and how it could all possibly turn out in the end.

I liked the way the author used letters to tell the story. It was a beautiful love story.

I listened to the audio version of this book and found it extremely moving and engaging. There were several readers playing the part of individual characters. All were excellent.
The book takes place in two parallel time zones of war, one beginning in 1912 and the other in 1940. It is told through a series of letters between the characters.
In 1912, the poetess Elspeth Dunn, lives on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Once, she had secretly dreamed of being a geologist, but her fear of water has kept her trapped on the island. When she gets her first fan letter from a reader named David Graham who lives in Urbana, Illinois, whose secret dream is to be a ballet dancer, her life takes a turn in a completely different direction. She calls him Davey and he decides to call her Sue, in the frequent, but secret, touching correspondence that develops over the years.
Elspeth’s husband, Ian, a fisherman, had grown very distant and eventually left her to join the fight in Europe, during WWI. Her confused loneliness is abated, not by the rare correspondence from Ian, but by the letters that often arrive from Davey. After some time, Davey also joins the fight in Europe. He will drive an ambulance. She has a divided allegiance, but she misses them both.
Ian was best friends with Elspeth’s brother, Finlay, and when he discovers her secret letter writing and her secret feelings toward Davey, he is enraged because she has been betraying his friend, Ian, who is now MIA and presumed dead. The family is torn apart when Finlay packs up and leaves home. Will the problems ever be solved and families reunited or will many more cans of worms be opened? Will anything move Elspeth to conquer her fear of water to leave the island?
Now move to 1940, Margaret Dunn is meeting and writing to Paul. They believe they are in love. It is again a time of war and he, too, joins up to fight. Her mother warns her to be careful about love in wartime, because it is a time when hearts often make rash decisions. Margaret is confused by her mother’s odd behavior, especially in the coming days, after her mother's secret cache of letters addressed to Sue, is accidentally discovered in their home. Sue is a person unknown to Margaret. Shortly afterward, her mom disappears, and Margaret sets out to solve the mystery.
Switching back to the 1912 era, the reader discovers that by a trick of fate, Davy and Ian wind up in the same prison camp and the story begins to twist and turn as more and more letters are revealed and more secrets disclosed.
Through the correspondence and interviews with people in 1940, who knew Margaret’s mother, the story is told and it is told with a good deal of humor in the back and forth letters, but the background love story is one of longing and tenderness, as well as secrets and deceptions. The eloquent correspondence of both couples exposes the actions of the characters that have changed their lives indelibly and have been carried with heavy hearts for decades.

Loved this book; was fun to share.

To write a book that is nothing but letters is tough. To write such a story that doesn't eventually lose the reader's attention is quite a feat. Letters from Skye is a beautiful love story that takes place in WWI between a married author living in Scotland on the Isle of Skye an an American lover of poetry. I found some of the letter communications between them to be too sparse and felt that the distance between them would have warranted more words than found on the paper at times. Needless to say, it is a story of love, but it is also a story that deals with deals with marital betrayal, forgiveness, duty to principles and commitment. Obviously a book that is nothing but letters is going to lack the descriptiveness of scenery and of characters, but surprisingly enough, as the letters go from general conversations to more indepth opinions and feelings, you begin to build your own image of the principal players in the story. I can't say that I would want to read many books that contained only correspondence, but this style of writing was a so different that it became a breath of fresh air and for a moment, I found myself cheering for the characters even when I knew their actions would prove hurtful to others.

I enjoyed this book. It brought back memories from my visit to the Isle of Skye. I like the dialog being the form of letters. It's a beautiful love story.