From Napolon Bonaparte and Frida Kahlo to Nelson Mandela and Ayn Rand glimpse the ardors of artists, painters, writers, and more in this touching volume of beautiful missives, from the author of the bestsellingLetters of Notecollections

Beethoven yearns to see his famously unknown Immortal Beloved. A Victorian farmer proposes marriage to a woman he’s never met. Zora Neale Hurston gives her ex-husband relationship advice. Mildred Loving asks the ACLU for help challenging the racist marriage laws of the Jim Crow South. Revealing deep, eternal truths from the heart, this intimate collection of 30 letters traces all of love’s incarnations, from first blush and mutual enchantment to unrequited feelings and the ache of passions past. It offers a rare, passionate, and timeless look at what it means to love and be loved.