Letters of Note: Love

From Napoléon Bonaparte and Frida Kahlo to Nelson Mandela and Ayn Rand glimpse the ardors of artists, painters, writers, and more in this touching volume of beautiful missives, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Beethoven yearns to see his famously unknown Immortal Beloved. A Victorian farmer proposes marriage to a woman he's never met. Zora Neale Hurston gives her ex-husband relationship advice. Mildred Loving asks the ACLU for help challenging the racist marriage laws of the Jim Crow South. Revealing deep, eternal truths from the heart, this intimate collection of 30 letters traces all of love's incarnations, from first blush and mutual enchantment to unrequited feelings and the ache of passions past. It offers a rare, passionate, and timeless look at what it means to love and be loved.

Letters of Note: Love also includes audio exclusive bonus content drawn from recordings made at performances of Letters Live, the live events series produced by Canongate in partnership with SunnyMarch and Shaun Usher. Hear Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey read Chris Barker’s letter to Bessie Moore at the Royal Albert Hall, Tom Hiddleston reading Gerald Durrell’s letter to his wife at the Freemasons’ Hall and Nick Cave perform his song, Love Letter, at the Union Chapel.

Read by Sanjeev Bhaskar, Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Danny Huston, Toby Jones, Jude Law, Natascha McElhone, Stephen Mangan, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson, Mark Strong and Meera Syal