Cavagnaro chronicles the decades-long correspondence with his high school freshman English teacher beginning shortly after graduation in 1964. At the time, he is twenty-one, and she is fifty-six and nearing retirement. Through letters, she offers encouragement for his writing and educational pursuits and is delighted to share her own professional and familial accomplishments. Together, their lives in letters illuminate the cultural upheaval of the sixties and the turbulence of the seventies and the Vietnam War. Their individual lives, relationships, and ambitions are also explored through letters and added exposition from Cavagnaro.

This memoir reminds readers that, although life is fleeting, they still have the power to connect with people through commitment and outreach. The letters are a wonderful archive of two lives entwined through education, a love for words, and writing. Cavagnaro pays homage to the enduring legacy of a teacher’s impact and influence on a student’s life. The result is an intergenerational account of two people supporting each other from afar. The letters are vibrant and layered with experiences and insight about a range of topics, both personal and communal. These are two people in conversation with one another while pursuing their passions and ambitions and taking in the world around them with joyful meditation.

Letter writing may be a lost form in the digital age, but this book will inspire readers to reach out across space and time to perhaps connect with a like-minded person from the past. This act of writing to another allows one to reflect and contemplate one’s life and invites another into a unique kind of companionship.

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