Excavating the Truth

My great aunt Fannie Church had a reputation as a person who “wouldn’t stay written to.” If you sent her a note—zip!—she’d reply by  return mail. 

This practice was a boon for me when I was a homesick teenager at boarding school one year. My own parents wrote rarely, and Aunt Fannie’s letters often were the only mail I got. And they were wonderfully lively—full of details about art galleries she’d visited, anecdotes about family members. 

 

In reply, I prattled on about French lessons, my roommates, the patisseries around the corner. Her replies always expressed interest in whatever mundane things I wrote about. These exchanges enlivened my year away from home, and somehow soothed me.

 

A few years later in college, I was pleased to discover that letter-writing exchanges constituted a legitimate genre—"epistolary novels”--and actually were among the first modern English novels. 

 

So, with this predilection to appreciating the epistolary form, it’s no surprise that I delighted in reading Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson. This slender novel has become a word-of-mouth favorite, garnering strong reviews and enthusiastic readers’ praise—all without a book tour or any kind of aggressive marketing activity.  It feels like a “find,” a little wonder of a book amid the avalanche of fall publications. 

 

The premise is simple.  A year-long correspondence  brings together Tina Hopgood, a middle-aged farmer’s wife in England, and Anders Larson, a middle-aged curator of a Danish museum.  Tina inquires about the Tollund Man, a 2000 year old mummy, unearthed from a nearby bog, perfectly preserved and a major attraction of the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark  (The museum is real, as is the Tollund Man.) Anders replies—and they are off. 

 

From their early formal letters, the two slowly begin to delve more deeply into matters of the heart. They share stories of their domestic lives and muse on life chances passed by. In small increments, the letters pave the way for a deep friendship—sometimes tentative, sometimes a daring leap. Writing letters seems to be a way that these two modest adults can express what’s most profound in their lives and dreams. 

 

The epistolary form seems ideal for this evolving relationship. In an essay for the British Museum Louise Curran writes about the 18^thcentury as the great age of letter writing. “Postal routes rapidly expanded, and the epistolary novel emerged as a hugely popular genre…Letter writers of the period used the form to describe and explore the self and everyday experience [It is a mode of writing that] offers an enticing glimpse into other people’s thoughts, feelings, and lives.”

 

Enticing, indeed. More than three centuries after the rise of the epistolary novel, Meet Me at the Museumdraws readers with  direct and intimate expression, as the main characters dig deep to excavate their essential truths.