Review: HOLLY'S INBOX by Holly Denham

Thank you to Cindy for passing this novel along to me!

This book is just what I needed this summer. I read it only in the evenings and it helped me drift off to a worry-free night of sleep. Not that it was boring – it was just such a light read.

Composed entirely of emails between Holly, a receptionist for a bank in London, and her co-workers, boyfriend, family and friends, this novel tells the story of how Holly came to be working where she does and what she likes and dislikes about it. It’s funny and occasionally sad and it’s the sort of book that one could put down for a couple of days and pick up again and have no problem continuing on.

I can only imagine that constructing this novel using e-mails was a lot more difficult than one would think. The author must have had a massive job keeping track of things throughout the book, and even though it may not have been any more difficult than writing a more traditional book, using e-mail as a tool must have made plot points quite disjointed. And at over 650 pages there’s a lot to keep track of for the writer. Mind you, emails take up much more room (considering the space used for subject headings and e-mail separations) than a regular novel. This is not a complaint, however, since for me epistolary type books are enjoyable.

I don’t read a lot of chick-lit but occasionally I come across a Holly’s Inbox and realize I’m missing an entire genre that I enjoy. There’s definitely room in my reading life for books like this.

I know Holly Denham is a pseudonym. Can anyone tell me what the author's real name is? A visit to the website reveals an interactive page that lets you read snippets of the actual book. But I still didn't find the author's real name!