Wired Love

by Ella Cheever Thayer

Genres: Romance
Pages: 160
Rating:

Synopsis:

Before internet chat rooms, Facebook, or OkCupid there was ― the telegraph. In this 19th-century bestseller, two young telegraph operators meet over the wire and begin a romance, sight unseen, using Morse code as their secret language of love. Written in a remarkably modern voice, this charming tale offers both an authentic glimpse of Victorian society and a prescient view of online friendships.

Nattie, known as N, has no idea at first whether C is a man or a woman. While she becomes increasingly interested in her correspondent, she finds plenty to occupy herself with among the other young people at her boarding house -- Cyn, the singer; Jo, an artist; and awkward Quimby, who has a crush on Nattie. But her thoughts always return to her invisible friend. If only, she thinks, they could have something to carry in their pockets, so when they are far away from each other and pine for a sound of 'that beloved voice, ' they will only have to take up this electrical apparatus, put it to their ears, and be happy. Readers will delight in the similarities and differences between courtship in the 1880s and modern romance.

I read Ella Cheever Thayer’s Wired Love via Serial Reader, somewhat at random. I’d never heard of it before, but it sounded fun, and there’s honestly something pretty modern about some of its dilemmas: Clem and Nattie meet because they’re both telegraph operators, and they talk to each other ‘on the wire’, in morse code, and begin to flirt and get to know one another without ever meeting. As someone married to someone they met on the internet, well, yeah, I know how that goes.

Mostly it’s fairly predictable, as far as Clem and Nattie go, with various misunderstandings and crises that would be fixed if Nattie would only communicate (Clem wants to, but Nattie doesn’t properly answer, infuriatingly enough). The side characters and pairings are a surprise, though, not neatly coming together as you might expect from a romance (poor Jo! I was rooting for him).

It also doesn’t overstay its welcome, and is a pretty quick read. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Rating: 3/5