04/20/2025
Posted • Let me introduce you to your next obsession. Letters from the Dead by Isabella Valeri is dark,
atmospheric, and intoxicatingly good. It’s the perfect mix of gothic, dark academia, mystery, and
intrigue set in a world full of wealth, privilege, and long kept secrets.
Valeri is the kind of exceptional writer that emerges very rarely in the literary world to sweep you
off your feet. With prose that feels like classic literature, but somehow completely fresh, she toys
with her reader, leading them down the garden path, so entranced by the gorgeous roses, they
don’t notice the thorns until it’s far too late. You will be swallowed whole by this book, and gladly.
Letters from the Dead is the kind of book that sticks with you long after you’ve read the last
page and that you will feel compelled to revisit over the years. I think at least a quarter of the
book went over my head, so I know that each time I read it, I’ll learn something new, see layers
that I missed before, and see the characters and story with a new perspective. Valeri obviously
did her research and she invites her readers in like a good professor does to their class. Reading this book is the closest I’ve come to the immersion and joy that I felt sitting in an English Lit class since I graduated. Whether it’s history, philosophy, foreign policy, economics, psychology, metaphor, symbolism, poetry, mythology, or one of many other subjects, Valeri has it covered, however subtly, in her curriculum.
This is just the beginning for Isabella and her dynasty. I can't wait to see where Valeri takes us
next...
