The Letters She Never Sent: Petrov Family, #2

By Joy Vee

Amy-Hope keeps a diary.
Anna writes letters.
Can this unlikely friendship
give one a voice
and help the other escape the past?
When Amy-Hope's parents separate, she and her dad move to a new house. Next door lives a shy, reclusive lady, who Amy-Hope wants to befriend. Their shared love of dogs and dance leads to a friendship which will give both of them more than they ever imagined.
The story is told through Amy-Hope's diary and letters that Anna writes to her brother, but never sends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Broad Place Publishing
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781915034243

Book preview

The Letters She Never Sent

Joy Vee

Logo Description automatically generated

First published in Great Britain in 2022

Broad Place Publishing

83 Nettleham Road,

Lincoln,

LN2 1RU

Copyright © Joy Velykorodnyy 2022

The author has asserted her rights under Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of the work.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Print Book:  ISBN 978-1-915034-23-6

E-Book:  ISBN 978-1-915034-24-3

The author can be contacted via her website:

www.joyvee.org

Books by Joy Vee

Dedication

Author’s Note

Prologue

Lincoln, 21st September 1963

Saturday 27th July 2019

Sunday 28th July

Monday 29th July

Tuesday 30th July

Wednesday 31st July

Thursday 1st August

Monday 5th August

Tuesday 6th August

Wednesday 7th August

Saturday 10th August

Sunday 11th August

Monday 12th August

Tuesday 13th August

Wednesday 14th August.

Thursday 15th August

Friday 16th August

Monday 19th August

Tuesday 20th August

Wednesday 21st August

Thursday 22nd August

Friday 23rd August

Saturday 24th August

Sunday 25th August

Monday 26th August

Tuesday 27th August

Wednesday 28th August

Thursday 29th August

Friday 30th August

Saturday 31st August

Sunday 1st September

Monday 2nd September

Tuesday 3rd September

Bible Verses

If you enjoyed this book...

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Books by Joy Vee

The Sienna Series

The Treasure Man

Love From Sienna

The ‘Love from Sienna’ Journal

The Kai Series

Kai – Born to be Super

Kai – Making it Count

The Petrov Family Series

They Whisper About Us

The Letters She Never Sent

For more information, visit joyvee.org

Dedication

To Me-Me,

Your voice is powerful,

God is listening to your prayers.

Never stop talking to Him

and listening to Him.

Love Auntie Joy

Author’s Note

There are some Russian words in this book, and sometimes they are pronounced a little differently from what you’d expect.

Artyom [art-YOM] – a Russian boy’s name

Baba Yaga [BA-ba YA-ga] – a witch character in traditional Russian folklore

Elizaveta [E-liz-av-YET-a] – the Polish version of Elizabeth

KGB – The Russian Secret Police

Anna Igorevna [AN-na ee-GOR-ev-na)

Pelmeni [pel-MEN-ee] – Russian dumplings

Babushka [BA-bush-ka] – Russian for Grandma

Prologue

Lincoln, 21st September 1963

The cold took her breath away as she climbed out the window. She looked around; rooftops of various ages provided a patchwork of opportunity and danger. But a tumble from this height would still be less painful than the alternative. She had to get away. She moved carefully, keeping the cathedral in front of her. After climbing and scrabbling for about ten minutes, she saw some rooftops a few feet beneath her and lowered herself on to them. From this height, she could drop to the ground.

Grateful that the city was poorly lit, she continued to climb, trying to stay off the main streets. She tiptoed through gardens and little alleyways, zigzagging up the steep hill. After another ten minutes, the ground levelled off, and she entered a wide square. To her left were the dark walls of an old castle and to her right, the shadowy, black hulk of the cathedral. Slipping through a large stone arch, she hunkered down in a darkened doorway. Now what?

‘Lord, have mercy,’ she whispered, repeating the well-known refrain of the priests.

‘Oh, here you are. I’ve been waiting for you.’

Her heart stopped beating as she heard a voice speak in a language she understood. She slowly turned.

Saturday 27th July 2019

Dear Diary,

Mum suggested I keep a diary because I keep forgetting everything that I do when I am at home with Dad. I don’t really forget, I just can’t be bothered to tell her everything, and some things she won’t want to hear, like when Dad and I had a burping competition – and I won!

So, I’ll keep this diary when I am here and try to write in it every day, then choose bits to read to Mum.

Dad told me that some famous people in history wrote diaries too, and one day, maybe mine will be famous. Can you imagine? How good would it be if lots of people read my diary? The first thing they’d want to know is... Who am I?

My name is Amy-Hope. I love my name, but sometimes people get lazy and just call me Amy. Amy is OK, it’s not a bad name, but Amy-Hope is so much more, well, hopeful. Teachers are the worst. They’ll start the day with Amy-Hope, but before break, they’ll have switched to Amy, and it’s all downhill from there.

Mum always says there are two sides to every story, so I have to put myself in the teacher’s position. When I do that, I can see there are so many children with creative names in their classes, I figure they are just trying to get a bit of it right. (There is a boy in our class, whose name has a clicking sound in it. We all spent half a day trying to learn how to say it properly. It’s one of my favourite names ever.) So, I guess I should be pleased that all my friends and family call me Amy-Hope, not Amy. It’s not that difficult. But it does show that they are truly my friend when they use all of my name.

It’s the start of summer and I’m really excited. Dad has enrolled me in a special dance school over the holidays. It’s three full days a week. Can you imagine? Three days just to dance! We will be learning different kinds of dances, and at the end of the summer, we’re putting on a small performance for the parents. Mum has already booked the day off work, and I really want to do a solo. I’m going to work so hard and be the best dancer there. I’ve even decided not to argue if the teachers call me ‘Amy’.

So, I’ll be dancing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Then I’ll spend Monday with Dad and Friday with Mum, like I usually do. The only upsetting bit is that I can’t take my dog-brother, Cosmo, with me to dance class. He misses me when I go to school, and I’m sure he was looking forward to spending all summer with me. Now I’ll be out most of the time and I know he’s going to be sad. But I’ll make sure I show him all my dances when I get home.

Cosmo follows me everywhere, like a shadow. Like me, he has a bed at home with Mum and a bed at home with Dad. This is still new. Before we all lived together, but now Mum and Dad have different houses. So, now I have a home with