“I want this story to turn up the light in your life.”
Australian author Emma Grey lost her husband Jeff to a heart attack in his sleep eight years ago, leaving her with their 5-year-old son, her two teenage daughters, and an utterly shattered heart. Writing her novel The Last Love Note — about a very similar Australian woman muddling her way through widowhood, motherhood, falling in love again, work, and endless snafus — helped her get through all of it. Her protagonist Kate is endlessly endearing, you can’t help but root for her and cheer by the time this delightful, clever read ends.
I fell in love with both Emma and The Last Love Note on a flight from New York to Los Angeles exactly a year ago. I must have seemed like a lunatic on that plane. Reading the manuscript on my laptop, I laughed repeatedly. Then I cried. Then I cried again. By the end of the flight, I felt like I’d lived another life. I put my hand on my heart and smiled as we landed.
Given that it’s been selected as a Target Book Club pick, a Book of the Month selection, and an Indie Next pick by indie booksellers, it’s clear The Last Love Note already has tens of thousands of U.S. readers laughing and crying just like I did.
I had a quick conversation with Emma Grey to understand how this book came to be in the midst of such grief.
Zibby Owens: What inspired you to write Kate’s story?
Emma Grey: My husband, Jeff, died in 2016. I was 42, with a five-year-old son and two teenage daughters from my first marriage. I needed to find a way through my grief and, as a writer, I knew that would be through words.
I considered writing my story as a memoir or self-help book but chose to fictionalize it so I could take the depth of my genuine emotions and pour them into a character’s world. Writing my grief through Kate’s eyes was cathartic and liberating. I wanted Kate to juggle the complex emotions of second chances after loss.
Can you tell me about your writing process?
As a busy working mom, I squeeze writing into the corners of the day. I keep my laptop beside my bed overnight and reach for it first thing, then scramble to write during lunch hours, evenings, and weekends. I wrote the first “skeleton” draft of The Last Love Note in a screaming hurry, mainly between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. over five weeks as the story tumbled out. Of course that was followed by 12 more drafts over time.
I tend to follow the sun around my house. I write on the front porch in the morning, then move to my bedroom, then the living room. In summer, I end up out in the backyard with the fairy lights twinkling in the trees. I also love the occasional coffee shop session, and I’m a member of a wonderful online writing group. We meet each Tuesday night for “writing sprints,” where we set a timer and see how much we can accomplish in 30-minute blocks.
What was easiest about developing the characters for this book? What was most difficult?
There’s a lot of me in Kate, so writing her character felt quite natural. Not just her grief, but the madcap situations she falls into — like the book’s opening scene, which involves a grenade. That really happened, by the way! Minus Kate’s hot neighbor and gorgeous boss, unfortunately.
I also wanted to create a hero who wasn’t exactly my husband but matched the caliber of the man. I see a lot of Jeff in both Hugh and Cam — it’s as though I needed to create two heroes to capture how much I loved him.
I wanted to show Kate’s mother as a woman who’s more complex than she seems on the surface. I gave her a backstory of being a single mom who struggles watching her daughter’s grief. My beautiful parents appear in the book as Barrie and Claire — an elderly couple in an aged-care home. Sadly, my mom lost her battle with dementia just a few months before the U.S. release of The Last Love Note, so the book is now dedicated to both my husband and my mom.
How do you hope your book resonates with people?
The book was released in Australia earlier this year, so I’ve had a sneak peek at the way it resonates with readers. There have been a lot of tears and laughter at book signings, author talks, and festivals. People who’ve experienced loss say that the novel articulates experiences they’ve struggled to put into words.
Readers are surprised that a book about grief can be funny. But that’s what real life is like — our emotions aren’t neatly packaged or linear. There’s humor in loss, too.
You know that feeling when you emerge from a movie theater after watching a romantic comedy that has dragged you through moments of sadness, happiness, and joy? You’ve got mascara running down your cheeks and have to duck into the nearest bathroom to collect yourself before returning to the world? I want you to feel that way after reading this novel. It’s tragic, but also life-affirming and dizzyingly romantic. I want this story to turn up the light in your life.
What did writing this book teach you about grief and love?
I started writing the novel three years after my husband died, and then I took another three years to complete it. I’m glad I took that time, because grief revealed itself in stages, and I was able to weave in those experiences.
The story taught me hope. By allowing Kate to fall in love again after such a deep loss, I think I’ve allowed myself to hope for the same in my own life.
