Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria von Wedemeyer came from urbane, highly educated families. By 1933, when Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer had earned his doctorate, traveled widely, served a church in Spain, and had taken a position as lecturer and student chaplain at the University of Berlin. He was twenty-seven years old. Two days after Hitler's inauguration, Bonhoeffer preached a radio sermon condemning the German leader's policies. The transmission was interrupted. In 1935, Bonhoeffer was appointed head of an underground seminary at Finkenwalde. The Gestapo closed the school two years later, but Bonhoeffer's resistance activities continued. Bonhoeffer had met Maria von Wedemeyer years before, but when they became acquainted again in 1942 they fell in love. Shortly after their engagement in early 1943, he was arrested. Dietrich and Maria would never see each other again outside prison walls. But through their correspondence their relationship grew deeper, more affectionate, and more passionate. Volumes have been written about Bonhoeffer the theologian and martyr, but none of these works reveals the side of the man known by his fiancee. As we read these letters, we glimpse hopes, dreams, longings, and fears - and we witness a timeless love story.

A collection of letters written between Maria von Wedemeyer and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, while he was in prison before being executed for his part in a plot to assassinate Hitler. The letters written by Dietrich show his passionate and romantic side.

A staggering love illuminating the dark corners of a Nazi prison Renowned German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is famous for his resistance to the Nazi regime and for his allegiance to God over government. But what few realize is that the last years of his life also held a love story that rivals any romance novel. Maria von Wedemeyer knows the realities of war. Her beloved father and brother have both been killed on the battlefield. The last thing this spirited young woman needs is to fall for a man under constant surveillance by the Gestapo. How can she give another piece of her heart to a man so likely to share the same final fate? Yet when Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an old family friend, comes to comfort the von Wedemeyers after their losses, she discovers that love isn't always logical. Dietrich himself has determined to keep his distance from romantic attachments. There is too much work to be done for God, and his involvement in the conspiracy is far too important. But when he encounters a woman whose intelligence and conviction match his own, he's unprepared for how easy it is to give away his heart. With their deep love comes risk--and neither Dietrich nor Maria is prepared for just how great that risk soon becomes. Based on detailed historical research, this true love story is at once beautiful and heartrending. My Dearest Dietrich sheds new light on a world-famous theologian . . . and the woman who changed his life.

Street-smart, wickedly funny, piercingly perceptive, and eloquent enough to win a Pulitzer Prize, Mike Royko continues to have legions of devoted fans who still wonder “what Royko would have said” about some outrageous piece of news. One thing he hardly ever wrote or talked about, though, was his private life, especially the time he shared with his first wife, Carol. She was the love of his life, and her premature death at the age of forty-four shook him to his soul. Mike’s unforgettable public tribute to Carol was a heart-wrenching column written on what would have been her forty-fifth birthday, “November Farewell.” His most famous and requested piece, it was the end of an untold story. Royko in Love offers that story’s moving and utterly beguiling beginning in letters that “Mick” Royko, then a young airman, wrote to his childhood sweetheart, Carol Duckman. He had been in love with her since they were kids on Chicago’s northwest side, but she was a beauty and he was, well, anything but. Before leaving for Korea, he was crushed to hear she was getting married, but after returning to Blaine Air Force Base in Washington, he learned she was getting a divorce. Mick soon began to woo Carol in a stream of letters that are as fervent as they are funny. Collected here for the first time, Royko’s letters to Carol are a mixture of sweet seduction, sarcastic observations on military life, a Chicago kid’s wry view of rural folk, the pain of self-doubt, and the fear of losing what is finally so close, but literally so far. His only weapons against Carol’s many suitors were his pen, his ardor, and his brilliance. And they won her heart.

"A ... memoir of love and faith from Hannah Brencher ... who has dedicated her life to showing total strangers that they are not alone in the world. Fresh out of college, Hannah Brencher moved to New York, expecting her life to look like a scene from Sex and the City. Instead, she found a city full of people who knew where they were going and what they were doing ... Lonely and depressed, she noticed a woman who looked like she felt the same way on the subway. Hannah did something strange--she wrote the woman a letter. She folded it, scribbled 'If you find this letter, it's for you...' on the front and left it behind. When she realized that it made her feel better, she started writing and leaving love notes all over the city ... [eventually sending 400 handwritten letters as a result of an Internet post and starting the website The World Needs More Love Letters]"--

“Dear Ashley” is unique, in part, because it is not written from the perspective of the sufferer, the treatment professional or the medical or psychological researcher. Instead, it may be the first time a dad has shared his perspective on his daughter’s eating disorder battle in print, let alone done so in such an engaging, intimate and heart-warming manner. The fact that Don Blackwell offers that perspective, openly and honestly, is one of many reasons parents and young adults are likely to be drawn to the book’s life-affirming message of hope.