The Secret Love Letters

Book excerpt: In The Secret Love Letters: A Family History, the author delves into the history of her Spanish ancestors, the once-illustrious San Miguels, and uncovers the forbidden love affair that tore the family apart. Fay Johnston told her daughter of a collection of letters she had kept hidden away for over 60 years, promising to show them to her when the time was right. It was only after her mother died that Dolores found the letters, concealed beneath a large piece of wood deep within a storage cupboard. Through endless research and close analysis, Dolores pieced together nearly a hundred letters, newspaper ads, doctors' notes, and postcards to unravel the story of her parents' romance, kept secret for over two decades. Dolores San Miguel, acclaimed author of The Ballroom: The Melbourne Punk and Post-punk Scene delivers a luminous, tightly woven account that places her own family saga in the wider context of early European immigration to Australia, as well as offering a fascinating glimpse into Melbourne life in the lead-up to World War 2.