Length2h 49m
About this audiobook
WHAT THE LETTERS KEPT
A Novel
When Nora Kessler comes home to care for her dying mother, she isn't expecting to find a family she never knew existed.
Tucked in the back of a hallway closet is a shoebox of letters, never sent, addressed simply to my daughter. Forty years ago, at nineteen, Iris Kessler gave up a baby girl for adoption, and never told a soul, not her husband, not the daughter she went on to raise. Now, with only weeks left, Iris has to decide whether to carry the secret to her grave or risk everything to find the daughter she's spent four decades wondering about.
With time running out, Nora sets out to track down the sister she never knew she had, racing against a closed adoption system, a decades-cold trail, and her mother's own fading strength. What she finds will upend everything she thought she knew about her family, her mother, and herself.
A story about the things we bury to protect the people we love, and the courage it takes to dig them back up before it's too late, What the Letters Kept is a heartrending debut about motherhood, forgiveness, and the family we choose when the one we're given isn't the whole story.
Audiobook details
GenreGeneral Fiction
Length2 hrs 49 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 22, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
21Chapter Twelve
2Chapter One
22Interlude: Mark
3Chapter Two
23Chapter Thirteen
4Letters Two Through Twelve
24Interlude: The Nurse
5Interlude: The Home
25Chapter Fourteen
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6Chapter Three
26Chapter Fifteen
7Chapter Four
27Chapter Sixteen: The Reception
8Chapter Five
28Interlude: Daniel
9Interlude: Robert
29Epilogue One: The First Months
10Chapter Six
30Epilogue Two: One Year Later
11Interlude: The Office
31Acknowledgments
12Chapter Seven: Deb
32About the Author
13Interlude: The Genealogist
33A Reading Group Guide
14Chapter Eight
34A Conversation with the Author
15Interlude: What She Remembers
35A Closing Reflection: Robert
16Chapter Nine
36Author's Note on Research
17Interlude: Priya
37Interlude: The House
18Chapter Ten: Katherine
38Interlude: The Wedding
19Interlude: Carol
39Interlude: The Diner
20Chapter Eleven
40Interlude: Nora's Childhood
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