BOOK REVIEW: Three Guesses by Chris McClain Johnson

I’m in luck! Here is another epistolary novel. (Actually, this one is a novella.)

Three Guesses by Chris McClain Johnson is a heartwarming story of an unconventional friendship among three grown-up pen pals.

Sam Brooks gets the ball rolling by connecting with Pete Wren (an artist who donated a painting to a charity auction) and Richard Mabry (who bought the painting, perhaps inadvertently.) Sam worked with a temp agency who sent her to the company coordinating the auction, and she wanted to know the story behind the sale.

Richard dives right in. Pete joins in, reluctantly at first, but then becomes as committed a writer as the other two. They live in different parts of the country, have different backgrounds, and have different struggles. Because of the anonymity of the endeavor (they have a pact never to meet in person), they find themselves opening up, becoming intensely honest, and then genuinely caring about one another. Although the letters are not frequent, and one or the other falls away from time to time, the friendship they forge is one of the strongest connections of their lives. 

Beautifully written, the novel explores the importance and joy of enduring friendship. And may make you wish the art of letter writing was better appreciated now.