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Three hearts. Countless letters. One impossible choice.
Through letters exchanged across oceans and Manhattan streets, Irish immigrant Catherine McGuirk navigates love, ambition, and heartbreak. Torn between her seafaring husband, the suitor she once refused, and her own dreams, Catherine’s fate unfolds in an intimate, epistolary saga of passion, resilience, and 19th-century life.
Dear Missing Friend
“Fans of historical novels will find much to like in McGuirk’s debut. An ambitious work of historical fiction.”
–Kirkus Review“In Susan McGuirk’s epistolary novel Dear Missing Friend, letters go where the heart is meant to travel, enabling a kind of freedom that feels unattainable in daily life.”
–Foreword Reviews“McGuirk creates a powerful foundation for a story that embraces many elements, from history to mystery, using Catherine’s strengths and character to bring this era to life. Recommendable to book clubs.”
–Midwest Book Review“It resonates with works like The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri in its examination of cultural identity and resilience. Urgent and timeless, the novel offers an unflinching look at the cost of forging a new life in a foreign land and a tribute to the women who defied societal constraints. Simply Un-put-downable.”
–The Prairies Book Review“I will not be forgetting this anytime soon. I hope there will be more people who would end up loving it like I did. Loved some lines so much I highlighted them, not for this review, but for myself to revisit in the future.”
–Literary Titan Review“This captured my heart from the beginning and tears are still streaming down my face since finishing. It was extraordinarily well written and captured my attention from sentence one.”
–Entrada Publishing Review
