Jan Morrill Writes

Creative non-fiction or purely fiction? Only the author knows . . .

Today’s Dictionary.com “Word of the Day” is:

billet-doux

\ BIL-ey-DOO \ , noun;

plural billets-doux \bil-ay-DOO(Z)\

1. A love letter.

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The literal translation from French to English is “gentle note.” In my lifetime, I have both sent and received a few love letters, and for whatever reason, the ones that are stamped in my memory are those that said goodbye.

In my work-in-progress sequel to The Red Kimono (currently titled Broken Dreams,) Nobu finds a decades-old letter his mother had hidden from her family. Written by a former lover, it was given to her the day before she left Japan for America, where she would be a picture bride.

I have “redacted” parts of the letter with ???????? to keep from spoiling a secret: