"The Love Letters of Emily and John" is a family history story about how the author's parents met, agreed to marry, and then fell in love. The understanding of the children of Emily and John was that their parents met at Boston University, courted and fell in love during the 1940-1941 academic year, and married on June 25, 1942. When the author discovered in May 2009 the letters Emily had saved that she and John wrote to each other during 1941 and 1942, a new and quite different understanding of their courtship emerged. Rather than courting for an entire year, they did not even meet until early May 1941, near the end of the school year. They had a few lunches together and two real dates before they went their separate ways.



Between June 1941 and January 1942 there was little correspondence between Emily and John. But in February 1942 John asked Emily to marry him. She agreed without hesitation. Why? The book addresses that question and explores the real courtship of Emily and John, a four-month exchange of letters in which blossomed their lasting love.