Molly Make-Believe

When Carl Stanton finds himself trapped by rheumatism through a long winter, his fiancee away and her letters disappointingly sparse, he does something desperate and ridiculous: he responds to a cheeky advertising circular about a 'Molly Make-Believe' correspondence service, intending only to pass the time. But the woman who writes back is sharp, funny, and entirely unlike the shallow filler Carl expected. As letters fly back and forth, the pain eases, the loneliness fades, and something unexpected blooms between them. The only problem is: Carl is engaged to someone else, and Molly is not who she claims to be. This 1910 epistolary gem is a confection of wit and warmth, a love story conducted entirely in letters that prove human connection can emerge from the unlikeliest places. Abbott writes with a light touch that recalls Oscar Wilde at his most playful, crafting a romance that understands how easily a jest becomes genuine, how a mask can reveal more than a face, and how sometimes the people we need most are the ones we never thought to look for.