In an age before emails dominated our communication, when international phone calls cost a small fortune, and when the internet was still in its infancy, Kim Fay’s Kate & Frida beautifully captures the lost art of letter writing. Set in the early 1990s, this epistolary novel chronicles the friendship between two twenty-something women navigating their identities through correspondence spanning Seattle and Paris.
When Frida Rodriguez, an aspiring war correspondent, writes to The Puget Sound Book Company requesting a copy of Martha Gellhorn’s “The Face of War,” she doesn’t expect to forge a friendship that will shape her life. But Kate Fair, a perky bookseller with writerly aspirations of her own, responds with such warmth and personality that an intimate connection forms between them, despite never meeting face-to-face. Through their letters, we witness their struggles, triumphs, heartbreaks, and growth as they navigate their twenties—that tumultuous decade of self-discovery.
A Love Letter to Bookstores and the Power of Reading
Fay, a former bookseller herself, infuses the novel with a genuine reverence for independent bookstores that will resonate with bibliophiles. The Puget Sound Book Company isn’t just Kate’s workplace—it’s a sanctuary of knowledge where books form bridges between people, ideas, and worlds. Through Kate’s descriptions, readers can almost smell the coffee wafting up from the basement café and hear the creaking of the wooden floors beneath the soaring brick ceilings.
The novel celebrates how books shape our understanding of ourselves and others. When Frida experiences the bombing of Sarajevo’s National Library—“an act of culturicide that is said to be the largest single book burning in history”—she witnesses firsthand how the destruction of books is connected to the destruction of cultural identity. As Frida’s architect friend Kirby explains, buildings like libraries are “a way for people to communicate across generations,” and destroying them “destroys messages across time.”
The Historical Backdrop of the Early 1990s
Fay masterfully weaves global events of the early 1990s into the narrative without overwhelming it. The Bosnian War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the L.A. riots following the Rodney King verdict, the Rwandan genocide—all form the backdrop against which Kate and Frida’s personal stories unfold. This juxtaposition raises profound questions: How do we reconcile our personal happiness with the suffering in the world? What responsibility do we have to bear witness to atrocities? Can small acts of kindness make a difference in the face of such overwhelming tragedy?
As Frida struggles with these questions in Sarajevo, her friend Lejla offers this wisdom: “We owe it to people who are suffering to savor everything good and beautiful we have in our lives. Not that we should deny bad things or turn our backs on them. But if suffering is contagious, then why isn’t joy? Which virus do we want to spread?”
Food as Cultural Connection and Identity
Food plays a central role in the novel, serving as a bridge between cultures and a vehicle for memory and identity. Frida, initially dismissive of her mother’s food writing career, comes to understand its power when she makes bosanski lonac (a traditional Bosnian stew) for refugees in Paris:
“If a flavor can take me home, why can’t a flavor take me someplace I’ve never been? Why can’t it take me inside someone’s life where I can see how much we have in common—how we all just want to be nourished—even if it feels like we’re polar opposites on the surface?”
Through cooking, Frida discovers her purpose is not in being a war correspondent but in using food to tell stories and create connections. Similarly, Kate finds comfort in making her Bumpa’s canned tamales or experimenting with Laurie Colwin’s tomato pie recipe. These culinary acts become tiny, particular expressions of love that anchor the characters during difficult times.
The Search for Identity and Purpose
At its heart, Kate & Frida explores that universal quest of our twenties: figuring out who we are and what we’re meant to do with our lives. Kate struggles with impostor syndrome, feeling intellectually inadequate compared to her sophisticated co-workers, particularly her boyfriend Sven—a brilliant but pessimistic aspiring novelist. Her anxiety manifests physically as “buzzing bees” under her skin as she tries to reconcile her joyful, perky nature with Sven’s philosophical brooding.
Frida, meanwhile, battles between her desire to make her accomplished sisters proud by becoming a war correspondent and the growing realization that her true talents lie elsewhere. Her journey from self-doubt to self-acceptance is particularly compelling, as she learns to embrace her “unique enthusiasm” rather than trying to fit into someone else’s definition of success.
Strengths and Weaknesses
What Works:
- The epistolary format creates an immediate intimacy with the characters, allowing readers to witness their most private thoughts and vulnerabilities.
- The historical setting is meticulously researched and authentically rendered, from the music references to the pre-internet research methods.
- The supporting characters are wonderfully developed despite only appearing through Kate and Frida’s descriptions—from Frida’s Ramonas (Bosnia refugees in Paris) to Kate’s colleagues at the bookstore.
- The exploration of grief through Kate’s relationship with her grandfather Bumpa is tender and profound, offering insights into how loss shapes us.
- The writing style shifts subtly between Kate and Frida’s voices—Kate’s more measured and observant, Frida’s more exuberant with her beloved exclamation points!
Where It Occasionally Falters:
- Pacing issues in the middle section might test some readers’ patience, particularly as some letters cover similar emotional ground.
- The resolution of certain storylines feels somewhat rushed compared to their buildup, particularly regarding Kate’s writing career and Frida’s relationship with Kirby.
- Modern readers might find some of the characters’ naivety about global politics a bit jarring, though it’s authentic to the pre-internet era when information wasn’t as readily accessible.
- Some plot developments feel a bit too convenient, particularly the final reunion, which borders on the predictable for this genre.
Comparisons to Fay’s Earlier Work and Similar Novels
Fans of Fay’s previous bestseller, Love & Saffron, will recognize her talent for creating meaningful connections between women through food and letter-writing. Both novels demonstrate her gift for evoking a powerful sense of time and place while exploring how friendships can transform lives.
Kate & Frida will appeal to readers who enjoyed other epistolary novels like Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or Jean Webster’s classic Daddy-Long-Legs. It also shares DNA with coming-of-age stories set in bookshops like Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and novels exploring female friendship like Ann Patchett’s Truth & Beauty.
Final Assessment
Kate & Frida is a warm, thoughtful exploration of friendship, identity, and the books that shape us. While occasionally slipping into sentimentality, the novel earns its emotional moments through authentic character development and a genuine love for the power of words. Fay has crafted a story that feels both specific to its 1990s setting and timeless in its exploration of human connection.
For readers longing for the days when correspondence meant physical letters rather than instant messages, for anyone who’s ever found themselves in a bookstore and felt at home, or for those still figuring out their place in a complicated world, Kate & Frida offers both comfort and challenge. Like the books Kate and Frida recommend to each other throughout their correspondence, this novel reminds us how stories can help us understand ourselves and our connections to others, even across great distances.
As Frida writes to Kate: “Sometimes when I’m writing to you a thought pops into my head and it could only happen because I’m writing to you.” Readers of this novel might find the same thing happening to them—unexpected insights emerging from the thoughtful connection between these two memorable women finding their way in the world, one letter at a time.
