Love Letters of Great Men edited by Ursula Doyle

My lovely sister bought me this beautiful book after receiving it as a gift herself; we had both seen it on the Sex and the City movie. Doyle has created a collection of love letters from some of history's most prominent men. There are politicians, writers, composers, poets, lords and kings. The letters are all very different in style but the sentiment of running through all of them is unmistakably love. Some men wrote of their love to one woman over a length of time and some men had many women to correspond with.

I really, really enjoyed reading these letters, mainly due to the fact that they are letters. Today, messages are too often conveyed in abbreviated text messages; instant chat conversations or speedily written emails. Maybe I am old-fashioned but I still write letters to those closest to me and pop them in the post. You can take your time with a letter and really make the effort to get your feelings down in words.

The letters in this collection are all well before email and telephones and that makes them even more poignant. You have Nelson writing from on board HMS Victory to Lady Emma Hamilton; they had probably not seen each other for months and his only comfort were the handwritten words that he could send her and those he would hope to receive in return.

This book is a brilliant idea and a lovely present to receive. I am off to look for the love letters of great women; I am sure there is a book of those out there somewhere.