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|title=Frances and Bernard

|author=Carlene Bauer

|publisher=Vintage

|date=April 2014

|website=http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/29888/Carlene_Bauer/index.aspx

|video=tJBP3pQYNPw

|summary=A sophisticated epistolary exchange between two fictional authors, based on the not-quite-love affair between Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell. Sparkling with wit but also richly philosophical, this debut novel is not to be missed.

}}

There's something very special about an epistolary novel. The format might seem unnatural to readers in this day of abbreviated text messages and e-mails, but the conceit of a written exchange allows for fully developed first-person voices and a confessional tone. Provided the author can bypass the subtle difficulties of plot-building, letters are also a handy indicator of the passage of time, and ably convey period vocabulary.